Beyond the Feminine

The Politics of Skin Colour and Gender in Visual Culture
In this compelling journey through visual culture, and the staging of intimate conversations with four contemporary British artists, Ope Lori questions how race and gender play out for women of different racial and skin colour complexions.

How can contemporary artists and image makers challenge representations of race and gender in visual culture and produce alternate visions?

Exploring a range of lens-based British art that engages with questions of race and gender, this book critiques power structures that embed racial dichotomies to arrive at a nuanced understanding of the position of race in contemporary visual culture. It examines how white and light-skinned Black women are privileged over Black and dark-skinned women in music videos, advertising, and even in classic paintings. Focusing on skin colour as implicit in constructions of femininity, the works discussed deconstruct the links between race and gender to expose hidden power relations.

Presenting intimate interviews with four British artists – NT, Marcia Michael, Sadie Lee and Ajamu X – along with the author’s own artistic practice, this book provides a much-needed toolkit for image-makers and critics alike. Using the analogy of the ‘set up’, this boundary-breaking book encourages us to not only question what we see, but to see differently, beyond the conventions of the male gaze. Reversing normative categories and social hierarchies, Beyond the Feminine puts forth a new gaze; an up-set to the system.

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