This talk examines the visual relationship between the cotton trade and the representation of the black body in American culture, using historical case studies and contemporary art. Juxtaposing contemporary interventions with historical moments, it examines how cotton materially influenced the way black bodies were seen, and how black Americans saw themselves, as both enslaved and free Americans. It argues that tracing this relationship deepens our understanding of the intersections of vision, value and subjectivity in the production of racial identity in nineteenth-century America, and also today.

Anna Arabindan-Kesson is an assistant professor of Black Diasporic art jointly appointed in the Departments of African American Studies and Art and Archaeology at Princeton University. Born in Sri Lanka, she completed undergraduate degrees in New Zealand and Australia and worked as a Registered Nurse before completing her PhD in African American Studies and Art History at Yale University. Her first book, under contract with Duke University Press and called Black Bodies White Gold: Art, Cotton and Commerce in the Atlantic World will be published in Spring 2021.

Lecture will be posted to The University of Manchester's MyVideo portal in advance of the event and participants will be sent a link for viewing.

A live q&a with Anna Arabindan-Kesson will take place at 12 mid-day on 11 November 2020 on Zoom.

Time: Nov 11, 2020 12:00 PM London

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Meeting ID: 918 3406 4432

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