Date of Award
Spring 5-20-2022
Degree Name
Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
Restricted/Unrestricted
Unrestricted
Abstract
By complicating viewers’ relationships to my painted figures through the application of the gaze, my work analyzes how America’s colonial past affects our current landscape to find ways to break the cycle, and to make space for Black autonomy. Blackness should be free to exist without being tethered in a position of inferiority to Whiteness. Radical defiance, resiliency, and expressions of agency have been used by Black people for centuries, and their employment must continue to combat systems of oppression. Our history has been one of division, but mutual respect and cooperation are needed for our communities to stand against the foundations of racism and injustice this country is built on. Art can be used to remember the past, and to foster new realities for the future. The strength, agency, and perseverance of my figures, despite the scars of the past they bare, suggest a preparedness for the task of creating new social structures of mutual respect and community.
Mentor/Primary Advisor
Heather Bennett & Cheryl Wassenaar
Recommended Citation
Webster, Kaylyn, "Untethering the “Other”: Creating Spaces for Black Autonomy and Community" (2022). Bachelor of Fine Arts Senior Papers. 101.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/bfa/101