CallApril 18, 2023
Paper Submission WOPHA and Pérez Art Museum Miami
AWARE: Archives of Women Artists, Research and Exhibitions and Women Photographers International Archive (WOPHA), in partnership with Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), welcome submissions for On the Edge of Visibility – An International Symposium focused on Black and Indigenous women* and non-binary artists, with particular interest on photographic practices** within three broad geographical zones: Latin America, the Caribbean, and the United States.
The symposium aims to offer a transcontinental approach encompassing postcolonial, feminist, and queer perspectives, considering the concerns and complexities of defining what it means to be a Black or Indigenous woman artist within different cultural settings. It will also constitute a reflection on past and current modes of knowledge creation.
The first section, Fractals of Invisibility, will question the historical and structural reasons for excluding Black and Indigenous women and non-binary artists from art historical narratives. It will examine invisibility as an intersectional phenomenon rooted in colonial and contemporary history. The second section, Politics of Visibility, will explore what strategies are effective in gaining institutional recognition and achieving socio-political goals. This section will simultaneously question the creation and replication of stereotyped representations of these artists within the dominant discourse. Finally, the third section, Poetics of Opacity, will focus on the notion of opacity, as theorized by philosopher and poet Edouard Glissant, understood as an impenetrable alterity that cannot be possessed, an epistemological concept that grants everyone the right to keep their psycho-cultural selves.
Interested participants are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 400 words and a CV to appelaprojets@aware-art.org by April 23, 2023. Accepted participants will be notified in May 2023.
*Woman is used in this context for a person who, regardless of their gender assigned at birth, identifies as a woman.
**Photographic practices include but are not limited to creating images with or without cameras, automated and computational processes, augmented photography, and collecting, archiving, or circulating images.
The symposium aims to offer a transcontinental approach encompassing postcolonial, feminist, and queer perspectives, considering the concerns and complexities of defining what it means to be a Black or Indigenous woman artist within different cultural settings. It will also constitute a reflection on past and current modes of knowledge creation.
The first section, Fractals of Invisibility, will question the historical and structural reasons for excluding Black and Indigenous women and non-binary artists from art historical narratives. It will examine invisibility as an intersectional phenomenon rooted in colonial and contemporary history. The second section, Politics of Visibility, will explore what strategies are effective in gaining institutional recognition and achieving socio-political goals. This section will simultaneously question the creation and replication of stereotyped representations of these artists within the dominant discourse. Finally, the third section, Poetics of Opacity, will focus on the notion of opacity, as theorized by philosopher and poet Edouard Glissant, understood as an impenetrable alterity that cannot be possessed, an epistemological concept that grants everyone the right to keep their psycho-cultural selves.
Interested participants are invited to submit an abstract of no more than 400 words and a CV to appelaprojets@aware-art.org by April 23, 2023. Accepted participants will be notified in May 2023.
*Woman is used in this context for a person who, regardless of their gender assigned at birth, identifies as a woman.
**Photographic practices include but are not limited to creating images with or without cameras, automated and computational processes, augmented photography, and collecting, archiving, or circulating images.
