Kobena Mercer Boeken

Focusing on Alain Locke's role as a critic during the Harlem Renaissance, this work provides innovative insights into the development of African American modernism. It explores the cross-cultural influences that shaped Locke's perspectives and contributions, shedding light on the interconnectedness of various artistic movements. Through this examination, the book redefines Locke's significance in the broader context of American literature and culture.

This book looks at the works of James VanDerZee, who "was the pre-eminent studio photographer of African-American life in the years between the two World Wars." - page 3.

How does pop art translate across cultures? What does pop art look like through a postcolonial lens? This volume casts light on the aesthetics and politics of pop by taking a cross-cultural perspective on what happens when everyday objects are taken out of one context and repositioned in the language of art

Jane Alexander is one of the most significant African contemporary artists working today. Her animal-human sculptures, photographs, and dramatic installations speak of lasting disfigurations in her native South Africa, yet raise issues about human nature that resonate with viewers internationally. Alexander's hybrid mutants inhabit a universe where boundaries between self and other, human and animal, are unstable, where shared foundations and clashing differences are disclosed, and where the grotesque and the familiar entwine. While the figures are, in many ways, emblems of monstrosity, they are oddly beautiful. Her creatures expose the human animal for all it is and all it could become. Not only are Alexander's artworks formally and technically accomplished, but they also deliver a potent emotional impact, sending warnings about historical consequences and hinting at things to come.