Changing the Subject: Paintings and Prints 1992-1994

Emma Amos has consistently dealt with issues of gender, race and cultural identity throughout her career. The only woman to be included in the famous Spiral group of African American painters in the 1960s, Amos has continually sustained a commitment to the politics of difference. For this exhibition, Amos explores stereotypical racial expectations within the art world. According to Amos,

“While audiences for my work have always shown interest in my use of diverse images, increasingly the art world wants to call attention to those works that suggest I am only concerned with images of black subjectivity. In actuality my work is rooted in a visual passion for hybridity: intercultural, interracial. To counter efforts to confine and censor my artistic vision, I’ve created a body of work that critically interrogates canonical images of whiteness while simultaneously celebrating my freedom to create any image—to change the subject.”

A catalogue featuring an essay by bell hooks was published on occasion of the exhibition.

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