Abstract
As a descendant of both enslaved and indentured women (a dougla) brought to the Caribbean to labour on plantations, I had never considered that these women (my foremothers) may have been artists. The conditions of life in servitude left little space for visual art to flourish and coming from a postcolonial society my education including that of art history has been rooted in European hegemony which include the construct of fine art versus folk art or craft. As a result I had been denied knowledge of the woman-centered visual art legacies of my female ancestors. This creative practice presentation explores two specific visual art traditions that originated from Igboland, Nigeria and Bihar, India, areas where my ancestors originated. Using a decolonizing, feminist art framework, I map my journey of discovery, reclamation and of incorporating into my own art practice Uli, from the Igbo and Madhubani, from the Mithila Region of Bihar, India. Using colonial era photographs of subaltern women that were used as postcards to create and perpetuate stereotypes I paint Uli and Madhubani onto the images. This redressing challenges Eurocentric, hegemonic historical narratives which have silenced the voices of my ancestors. Reconfiguring these archive images gives agency to the subjects whilst adding nuance to the representations of subaltern women. This study addresses the necessary work of decolonizing the art canon and invites discourse about woman-centered subaltern visual art including how this reclamation can be empowering to their descendants.
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Dougla, Woman-centered, Visual Legacies, Decolonizing, Reclaiming, Subaltern, Caribbean, Madhubani, Uli
