The politics of text
September 26th, 2022
Essayist, poet, and art theorist Kim Dhillon has published Counter-Texts: Language in Contemporary Art (Reaktion Books US$32) about the use of text in contemporary art. She highlights the work of visual artists including more than 40 creators from diverse backgrounds such as Brian Jungen and Ken Lum. These artists reveal the many ways that oppression is contained in language and interrogate the power held in words. For example, Ken Lum’s mixed media piece, There is no place like home (2000) presents how different people feel about colonialized spaces: a white woman says ‘Wow, I really like it here / I don’t think I ever want to go home!’; a South Asian woman says “I’m never made to feel at home here / I don’t feel at home here’; and an Asian man says ‘I’m sick of your views of immigrants / This is our home too!’. Kim Dhillon teaches critical theory and curating at the University of Victoria. 9781789145564
Leave a Reply