Dr. Zoé Whitley: Who gets to be an artist?

30 Jun

In this week’s episode of HUTL, we’re talking art, access and representation with art historian, writer, curator and director of London’s Chisenhale Gallery Dr. Zoé Whitley.

We talk about the importance of seeing oneself reflected in culture and having teachers who create spaces for that exploration. We talk about Black women and their hair, about standards of beauty and representations of black women and beauty. We talk about the power of possibility having what’s possible reflected back at us. We talk about access, access to the arts, particularly with respect to her co-curation of the celebrated Soul of a Nation at the Tate Gallery. We talk about the arc of black consciousness from Negro, to Black, to African American - the Black Panther’s Stockley Carmichael becomes Kwame Ture - that being and becoming that Stuart Hall spoke about. We talk about the next generation of curators who are speaking to the world we’re in now. We talk about learning to rest, how rest is in fact an act of radical resistance and of course, we talk about music.

Guest: Dr. Zoé Whitley

Title: ‘Who gets to be an artist?’

IG: @ZoeWhitley

Artists on playlist: Shameika Said, ft Fiona Apple; No Name, Rainforest; Lous and The Yakuza

Artist References:

Harper’s Bazaar Article by Zoe Whitley

Vision and Justice

Denise Murelle - Posing Modernity The Black Model from Manet and Matisse to Today

NAFAD - National Association of Fashion and Accessories Designers in the National Museum of African American History and Culture Smithsonian

Tiona Nekkia McClodden

Tricia Hersey the Nap ministry

Joy Gregory - Website & Autoportrait