Project Black

In Fanon's "The fact of  blackness" [ extract in visual cuture: the reader:  eds. jessica evans and stuart hall: Sage Publications 2010 pp 417 -420] the following statements are made:

"As long as the black man is among his own, he will have no occasion, except in minor internal conflicts, to experience his being through others." [p 417]


"For not only must the black man be black; he must be black in relation to the white man" [p 417]

"...his customs and the sources on which they were based, were wiped out because they were in conflict with a civilization that he did not know and that imposed itself on him" [p 418]

"In the white world a man of color encounters difficulties in the development of his bodily schema. Consciousness of the body is a negating activity. It is a third person consciousness." [p 418]

".....the corporeal schema crumbled, its place taken by a racial epidermal schema" [p 419]

"I was at the same time responsible for my body, for my race, for my ancestors,. I subjected myself to an objective examination, I discovered my blackness, my ethnic characteristics; and I was battered down by tom-toms, cannibalism, intellectual deficiency, fetichism, racial defects, slave ships and above all else, above all: 'Sho' good eatin'.' [p 419]

" The Negro is an animal, the Negro is bad, the Negro is mean, the Negro is ugly;..." [p 419]

"I am given no chance. I am overdetermined from without. I am the slave not of the 'idea' that others have of me but of my own appearance" [p 420]

Whilst it could be argued that we are all defined by others and that we can only experience our 'self' through our relationships with others the key point is that expressed as a "racial epidermal schema". A black person is judged, in the first instant, by the colour of his skin and he is ascribed all the characteristics of the 'Negro' no matter how inappropriate or inaccurate. He or she is judged before they have spoken. Compare this with the white person. If he enters so called 'polite society' and has dressed in the proper costume he will be accepted. As soon as he speaks he will be judged on his accent, his alma mater and his work. His 'class' will be decided and all the characteristics of that class will be seen as part of his bodily schema. The 'class' issue is as negating as the colour of one's skin. It is however possible to avoid the problem but being 'black' is not changeable.

Furthermore for those who, for whatever reason, find themselves in a society that is dominantly white the pressure is always on to adopt the ideologies of that white society. Indeed all that surrounds him is the creation of the dominant element not least the education system and the public persona. What we find is the ghettoisation of the minority groups that is caused in part by the natural desire of those groups to live in a community that is supportive of their cultural background and in some cases language and place of birth.

How does this impinge on visual culture. It is a two way street. There is the artist who attempts through his work to visualise the culture of his ethnic origins albeit a culture that is not of the land of his birth. There is a risk that there will be an over-emphasis on a particular interpretation of that culture (consider the diversity in Nigeria and its many languages and cultures) and a failure to recognise that elements that are seen as a natural part of that culture are imports from other cultures. Then there is the viewer who will bring there own mindset  who will interpret what is seen through 'eyes' that are coloured by pre-formed opinions. An exhibition that is dedicated to the work of the Black artist and is advertised as such will be affect the preconceptions of the viewing public whatever their colour or background. The pressure is on the artist to produce work that in some way reflects 'blackness' and that rejects the imposed culture of the dominant race. The pressure is also there on the visitor who in some way is asked to sign up to the idea that in some way being a black artist necessarily means producing a particular type of work.

For the black person there is a continuing conflict between what is presented as best and good by the white culture in which they now live and the strident demands of those who insist that they should support and fully appreciate a culture that is possibly at odds with that of those with whom they go to school, work or play. One only has to think of the third and fourth generations of young women whose families came from the sub-continent who find themselves torn between the western culture of their friends and the ethnic culture of their parents and grandparents.