Courses

This course takes a close look at visual art and performative culture by artists of Latin American descent in the U.S. or Latinx, Latina/o art.  The artists we will study trace their heritage to Mexico, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba, along with other countries in Latin America.  We will consider how these wide-ranging and diverse creative expressions come to signify Latinidad while in the process transforming U.S. culture. This means examining colonial era histories that inform the work of contemporary Latinx artists including, but not limited to, histories of race and botanical illustration. We will also look at the histories and visual expressions of Afro-Caribbean and Taíno spiritual practices that have had a great influence on Latinx art production. Course themes include: physical and psychic borders, indigeneity, colonialism and racialization, gender and sexuality, and expanding notions of American art and identity. Class discussions will focus on close examination of theoretical approaches and individual works along with shifting ideas of representation.