Framing Atrocity: Artists (re)present lynching
Description
Participants will learn a bit about the history of lynching in the United States and how artists have contended with this horrific history through various media (from novels to museum exhibits to comics to paintings). Given that lynchings were often memorialized in photographs and circulated as postcards, we will talk about what Cassandra Jackson calls the “crisis of vision” (witnessing, spectacle) and how the viewer can begin to process atrocity and be inspired for change. We will discuss three “case studies” of artists who deconstruct lynching: Kerry James Marshall’s ink-jet printings “Heirlooms & Accessories” (2002), the opening panels from Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece’s graphic novel Incognegro (2008; inspired by Walter White, who risked his life to investigate lynchings in the South during the early 20th century), and contemporary murals depicting George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. If there is time, we may end with a brief reflection on James H. Cone’s groundbreaking work of theology, The Cross and the Lynching Tree (2011).
Copyright Status
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/
Additional Rights Information
Contact the SPU Library (http://spu.edu/library) for assistance with determining copyright holder(s) and who to contact for permissions.
Framing Atrocity: Artists (re)present lynching
Participants will learn a bit about the history of lynching in the United States and how artists have contended with this horrific history through various media (from novels to museum exhibits to comics to paintings). Given that lynchings were often memorialized in photographs and circulated as postcards, we will talk about what Cassandra Jackson calls the “crisis of vision” (witnessing, spectacle) and how the viewer can begin to process atrocity and be inspired for change. We will discuss three “case studies” of artists who deconstruct lynching: Kerry James Marshall’s ink-jet printings “Heirlooms & Accessories” (2002), the opening panels from Mat Johnson and Warren Pleece’s graphic novel Incognegro (2008; inspired by Walter White, who risked his life to investigate lynchings in the South during the early 20th century), and contemporary murals depicting George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. If there is time, we may end with a brief reflection on James H. Cone’s groundbreaking work of theology, The Cross and the Lynching Tree (2011).
Rights Statement
