Final major project #3 Shades of noir
In 2009, Shades of Noir (SoN) was established by Aisha Richards as an independent program in UAL, to inform students of diverse projects and subjects which should be addressed. In this publication SoN, looks at the Three Isms: Negotiating Race, Sex and Class .”This ToR will focus particularly will begin to engage in a discussion of race, sex (gender) and class as fundamentally overlapping elements within a singular system of social power rooted in colonialism”. I’m trying to expand my understanding of this subject and how it influences culture as well as people’s work.
I found it very sensible of the magazine to begin by explaining definitions that are essential to help the reader understand the subject matter. Such as,
“Body politics: The term refers to the practices and policies through which powers of society regulate the human body, as well as the struggle over the degree of individual and social control of the body. The powers at play in body politics include institutional power expressed in government and laws, disciplinary power excited in economic production, discretionary power exercised in consumption and personal power negotiated in intimate relations.
Colonialism: The control or governing influence of a nation over another country, territory, or people. The process manifests through different forms of violence.” (Shades of Noir, 2020, p.13)
The definition of colonialism made me question how Sudan was taken over by the British and research that part of history. How was it colonised differently to other African nations? Also, how it impacted people from Sudan. In the book Khartoum at night, Marie Grace Brown says”
‘Colonialism is incorrectly used in connection with the Sudan. The whole object of British recruitment to the Sudan Government was to lead the country to independence… British rule as a project that focused on guidance, rather than submission. one southerner noted, “when they [the British] tie your hands, they tie you with silk, not with iron chains.” ‘ (Brown, 2017, p.39).
This creates a strong sense of mission to imperial adventure.
I found that much of the featured artwork helped me visualise the other defintion -body politics. SoN had an interview with Stan Squirewell at GalleryEight London – “his work explores discourse surrounding race and memory through mythology, sacred geometry, science and indigenous storytelling.” (Shades of Noir, 2020, p.44)
Squirewell quoted:
“[The artist calls getting this black history in America] a reclamation. [The artist] is challenging that history [white people history] whilst acknowledging it at the same time” (Shades of Noir, 2020, p.47). This is an important realisation for an artist to have and reason to produce such work.
“The work is political because it is politicised.; politicised bodies are featured in the work. I’m a political person because if I wasn’t a political person. That would affect my safety and well-being in the country. But that’s not why I’m making the work. I’m making the work to leave a document of my experience, leave a document of the experience of people who are like.” – Tschabalala Self ” (Shades of Noir, 2020, p.71). I found this quite powerful and I can relate to them.
There are many reasons why people have anxiety about race but what I found fascinating was how the movie Dracula was created to represent this subject from a different perspective and curated so cleverly.
“Horror has been used for years to reflect moral panics over colonial issues…[Dracula, 1897] The historical context for which this story was written presents a series of cultural issues reflecting the later victorian era, one being attitudes around race. During this time in Britain there was a growing uneasiness over the morality of Imperialism – Imperialism refers to a policy extending colonial power and influence through of military force and by other hostile means. Stephen D. Arata suggests that Dracula presented a narrative of reverse colonisation by which the ‘primitive’ forces from outside the ‘civilised’ world are able to rise and conquer. In many instances the protagonist in late victorian horror fins themselves in the position of the colonised in a reversal of roles and has become the victim” (Shades of Noir, 2020, p.42).
Reference:
Brown, M.G.(2017) Khartoum at night: fashion and body politics in imperial Sudan. United States: Stanford University Press
Shades of Noir (2020) The Three ‘ism’s: Negotiating Race, Sex & Class. United Kingdom: University of the Art London. Available at: https://issuu.com/shadesofnoir/docs/isms