Course information

This module builds on ground-breaking recent scholarship and curating to explore decolonial, feminist and queer art histories in Britain from the aftermath of the Second World War to the present. Treating ‘Britain’ as a post-colonial site fundamentally shaped through empire, colonialism, imperialism and border violence, we address art practice in relation to anti-colonial resistance and decolonial struggles, internationalism and transnationalism, feminism and gay liberation, HIV/AIDS activism and the impact of Section 28. Ranging across media from painting and sculpture, through documentary photography, film and performance, we will apply intersectional queer feminist approaches to examine relationships between gender, race, class and sexuality. Artists and groups will include Rasheed Araeen, Artists for Democracy, Frank Bowling, Sonia Boyce, Rita Donagh, the Blk Art Group, Black Audio Film Collective, Sunil Gupta, Mona Hatoum, Lubaina Himid, Mary Kelly, Signals Gallery, and Veronica Ryan.