Spatial Realization: Understanding Black Cultural Engagement in Context of Space and Whiteness
This paper explores the ways in which Black people interact with their culture in the context of white institutional space as approached by the art installation titled Spatial Realization. By establishing a space that invites engagement with Black culture contextualized within a white institution and directly juxtaposed by symbols of racialized oppression, the exhibit challenges its audience to confront the issue of conflict that is embedded even in generalized cultural interactions we tend to consider as only supplemental to our understanding of self. Ultimately, it asks the question of whether or not there is a possible reality where Black people can engage with Black culture without an inherent conflict with whiteness and what implications does that possibility bear in terms of our understanding of personal, cultural identity.
Black, African-American, culture, space, whiteness, institution, cultural context
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