Black Female Subjectivity in Writings by O'Grady, Bradley, Bruguera, and Kester
It is well understood that women of colour, particularly black women's, position throughout history has been one of both erasure and categorization as a one-dimensional version of self. Particularly, the black woman has been made out to be sexual, immoral, deviant and corrupt, while at the same time being treated as a figure lacking sexuality, to comfort, tend to, and care for others. Today, this positioning of the black woman in opposition to the femininity of the white woman continues, even in those spheres which seek to allow black women to reclaim their female subjectivity. Writings by Lorraine O’Grady, Rizvana Bradley, Tania Bruguera, and Grant Kester explore the position of blackness throughout history in regards to gender and sexuality, as well as the role of the artist in creating political and socially relevant art within the sphere of revolution.
The first two readings discuss the question of bodies, race, and gender. To begin, in Olympia’s Maid: Reclaiming Black Female Subjectivity Lorraine O’Grady gives a detailed account of the historical representation of black women as both Jezebel and Mammy and theorizes how black women today might separate from this othering and reclaim their subjectivity. The only way to separate from this colonial history of how black women are depicted, O’Grady writes, is to “be willing to hear each other and to call each other by our "true-true name”. To name ourselves rather than be named we must first see ourselves… So long unmirrored in our true selves, we may have forgotten how we look'' (4). This self-naming occurs in Tschabalala Self’s work in “Trigger: Gender as a Tool and Weapon”, described by Rizvana Bradley in Aesthetic Inhumanisms: Towards an Erotics of Otherworlding. Bradley describes Self’s work as the intentional claiming of that position which black women have been subjugated to. That of a socially negated construct whose gender has been “completely rescripted in the context of racial slavery” (Bradley 196). This embodiment is a form of resistance to the denial of the existence of black women's gender and sexuality. It gives form to exactly that which O’Grady describes in her text as the only way of moving past the historical practice of both negating black sexuality and declaring the black woman as sexually deviant. Similar to how the femininity of the white woman cannot be understood without understanding its placement in opposition to the anti-femininity of the black woman, gender studies are incomplete if they are without the understanding of blackness and its relation to gender. It is precisely the refusal to give black sexuality permanent form throughout history which makes it the ideal milieu in which to rethink the boundaries assigned to queerness, sexuality, and gender like Self and others have done in “Trigger”. O’Grady emphasizes, again and again, that self-critique is necessarily preceded by self-expression, and the works in “Trigger” are exactly that self-expression which foregrounds the critique of the gender binary.
The second two readings discuss revolution and the role of the artist and art in a political context. First, in Tania Bruguera’s Culture as a Strategy to Survive, she dissects the difference between surviving and living, documenting and implementing, narrating and putting into practice. Bruguera defines survival as a “sense of stabilization” and theorizes that it is exactly the battle against that sense of stabilization that leads to social advance. She also outlines the potential for art to be a tool for creating new models of ethics and space where structures of power are in constant flux, which she says can only be achieved through self-sabotage. She believes art needs to separate itself from its history and begin anew, focusing not on making things that will last throughout history, but rather on making things that assert themselves in our current time and contextualize the present (Bruguera 41). This is exactly what the artwork Acción del Encierro (1968) by Graciela Carnevale, explored in Grant Kesters’ writing The Sound of Breaking Glass Part I: Spontaneity and Consciousness in Revolutionary Theory attempts to enact. This work exemplifies Bruguera’s definition of political art, which “must think not in working for others or because of others, but in making work made by others” (Bruguera 40). The participants in the work are the material, the topic, the documentation and the viewers, all at once. In the piece, Carnevale attempted to claim the position of vanguard leader and create a microcosm of revolution by forcing the unwilling participants to revolt and break the glass of the gallery space. She “seeks to serve as the catalyst for a heightened awareness of the political” (Kester 2011). Whether she achieved this is up for debate. It could be argued that the outcome of the work, the glass being smashed in by a passerby who took pity on the people trapped inside, is reflective of the often overlooked fact that nothing, even revolution, can occur in a vacuum and remain unaffected by outside forces.
While these four readings seem to touch on two very separate topics, I would argue that they are inextricably linked. In the twentieth century, black female artists, such as Adrian Piper, explored their own identity which in turn began the process of expanding the discourse surrounding identity, race, and sexuality. This expansion of the discourse surrounding black women’s historical position is one that has become inherent in academia. Thus, the supposed identity of the black woman changed. Even in spaces that are meant to uplift and celebrate black women, they are put into a box and categorized. Now, instead of Mammy and Jezebel, the black woman is a victim of abuse and the leader of the resistance. She has been dubbed the organizer of the revolution, both supporting the proletariat from below and holding relations with the bourgeoisie from above. She is both the political artist and the muse of the political artist. Once again, black women have been relegated to a position not entirely of their choosing, and are allowed just enough space to attempt to express themselves, only to be used as a means of fodder for social and political revolution. Now, the black woman is expected to take on the role of the vanguard leader.
In conclusion, these readings by Lorraine O’Grady, Rizvana Bradley, Tania Bruguera, and Grant Kester touch on the role of race, sexuality, gender, and art in forming identities and enacting revolution. While they each focus on different aspects of culture and theory, it is undeniable that they unwittingly outline the modes through which black women and other marginalized peoples can, and should, revolt against colonial infrastructure and reclaim their identity.