Art on My Mind by Bell Hooks | Carrie Mae Weems Interview

Q- "The other, but no less limited, way of viewing your work is to see it as many audiences, particularly white folks, do, as ethnographic documentation." (Hooks 94)

R- This statement highlights the reductive way black art is often perceived. Instead of being recognized for its artistic, emotional, and conceptual depth. This suggests a racialized gaze that confines black artists to the role of informants about black experiences rather than acknowledging their work as part of a broader, universal artistic conversation. The challenge is to push back against this framing by asserting that black art is not merely about race.

Q- "If art is to be talked about differently, artists cannot rely on traditional frameworks of image making, or on institutional frameworks where image making is talked about." (Hooks 107)

R- Here, hooks is calling for a radical shift in artistic production and critique. Traditional frameworks, whether in art institutions, academia, or mainstream criticism, often reinforce dominant narratives that exclude or marginalize certain voices. To truly change how art is discussed, artists and critics must break free from these limiting structures and create new spaces for dialogue that acknowledge different perspectives, histories, and ways of seeing.