'Figurative Histories' Explores The Artistic Ascension Of Black Bodies

'Figurative Histories' Explores The Artistic Ascension Of Black Bodies

Racism takes hold when the human aspect of a people is reduced or eliminated in the cultural zeitgeist. Most American schoolchildren know that Thomas Jefferson invented the dumbwaiter; almost none know that he did it so that his white guests would not see his Black servants and slaves at parties. The distortion or absence of Black bodies has been a part of America since its founding, as intrinsic as guns, turkeys, and drinking songs. Figurative …