All articles tagged with #black identity
Renowned American visual artist Betye Saar, whose assemblage works centered on Black identity and social justice, has died at age 99, ending a seven-decade career that reshaped contemporary art.
"American Fiction" is a sharp industry satire that explores the unfairness of asking individual artists to represent the entire Black experience. The film follows Thelonious Ellison, a literary professor whose novel is rejected until he submits a parody of "thug-life trauma porn." Jeffrey Wright delivers an understated performance as Thelonious, highlighting the commodification of Black voices in the publishing industry. The movie tackles themes of race, representation, and selling out, while offering a nuanced look at Black identity. Although the film's style may not fully support its satirical elements, it ultimately provides a rewarding exploration of the challenges faced by Black artists.
"The Blackening" is a comedic horror film that tests viewers' familiarity with horror tropes while messing with the variegated verities of Black identity. The film's masked killer offers the friends a lose-lose, if philosophically fertile and futile, proposition: Sacrifice the Blackest among you and the rest go free. The ensemble embodies the affection as well as the prickliness of friends who may not have seen each other in a while, but know each other well and may still harbor a resentment or two.