"The sculpture, "Untitled" (2022), by the late artist Radcliffe Bailey, is a striking visual metaphor for W.E.B. Du Bois's doctrine of double consciousness, the social historian's conceptualization of African Americans' racial positioning post-emancipation. In their orientation, the twin busts suggest the crisis of identity experienced under the duress of racism; the subjects' autonomous self-fashioning is at odds with their marginalized civic position."
""Untitled" is a succinct primer for In Our Time, which gathers 11 artists to address the contemporary resonances of Du Bois's philosophies, research, and legacy at large. These artists make meaning out of complex, interconnected histories in their practices; like Du Bois, they are aware of the potential of visual language to disseminate social philosophy to a wide audience. In another gallery, two faces composed of geometric shapes merge together in Derrick Adams's "Fixing My Face" (2021)."
An exhibition assembles eleven artists to engage W.E.B. Du Bois's philosophies, research, and legacy through visual language. A Radcliffe Bailey sculpture of twin white busts and a hollow metal window visualizes Du Bois's doctrine of double consciousness and the crisis of racial identity under racism. Artists use geometric portraiture and painting, such as Derrick Adams's Fixing My Face, to evoke simultaneous potentials of collectivization for resistance, community, and intimacy against forces that seek to extinguish autonomy. Ann Messner's multimedia installation Du Bois: The FBI Files deploys archival stacks and audio to dramatize surveillance and documentation of Du Bois's life. The works link historical scholarship to contemporary social and aesthetic inquiry.
Read at Hyperallergic
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