Text as Image/Image as Text: Narratives of African American History and Identity
Emma Routhier ’12, Levinson Intern
Published by the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College
2012, 2 pages
The written narrative is the most valued form of knowledge production throughout modern Western history. This has significant implications for, among others, African American slaves, who were systematically denied participation in written discourse. It is not only a question of who has written history, but more importantly, who can? And how? With this background as a rich framework for critique, text as image has in turn become a powerful tool for artists interested in illuminating the dominant ways of manufacturing narratives and claiming knowledge.