Semester of Graduation

May, 2025

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

School of Arts

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

This thesis explores how contemporary African and African diasporic artists visualize and reframe the legacy of the trans-Atlantic slave trade through affective, spatial, and perceptual strategies. Moving beyond traditional historical narratives that center the capture and transport of enslaved Africans, the study foregrounds the lived experiences, resistance, and resilience of the enslaved and their descendants. Through a close reading of visual art, film, and commemorative installations, this project examines how artistic interventions construct counter-narratives that challenge dominant representations of slavery and engage viewers on emotional, sensory, and embodied levels. Structured in three chapters, the thesis is organized around historical periods—The Middle Passage, the Antebellum era, and the post-slavery present—rather than the chronology of artistic production. Chapter 1 analyzes how artists Mohau Modisakeng and Kwame Akoto-Bamfo use cinematic and sculptural practices to evoke the trauma and psychic rupture of the Middle Passage. Chapter 2 interrogates agency, spectatorship, and the “return of the gaze” through Steve McQueen’s 12 Years a Slave and Kara Walker’s A Subtlety, drawing from theories of double consciousness and visual power. Chapter 3 focuses on the Whitney Plantation Museum as a site of memory and resistance, analyzing how artworks by Rod Moorhead and Woodrow Nash operate as counter-archives that challenge sanitized plantation histories. By foregrounding affect and perception, this thesis argues that contemporary art is not only a vehicle for historical redress but also a medium of reparation—capable of reshaping how audiences confront, interpret, and internalize the enduring legacies of slavery.

Date

5-1-2025

Committee Chair

Young Allison

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