Thinking visually — Representation and reparation
Date/Time
Location
Clark Art Institute (225 South Street, Williamstown, MA 01267, Williamstown MA)
Inês Beleza-Barreiros (Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal / Michael Ann Holly Fellow) explores how colonialism influences image-making and image reading to this day.
Images do not illustrate arguments, she says — they are the argument — they are colonialism in action. Art historians who are dealing with a visual colonial archive can end up repeating past narratives in the present. Beleza-Barreiros asks instead how to use the visual archives of power to show and critique the realities and costs of domination — and to offer reparation. Inspired by the work of Aby Warbug, she will talk about a practice of visual archaeology.
Inês Beleza Barreiros is an art historian, invested in the visual culture, public memory, and afterlives of colonialism in the Portuguese-speaking world. Trained in the United States, Portugal, and France,she is a researcher at ICNOVA, School of Social Sciences and Humanities at Nova University of Lisbon.
She has been working on award-winning documentary films that explore the relation between cinema and other arts, such as painting and landscape. Publications include Sob o Olhar de Deuses sem Vergonha: Cultura Visual e Paisagens Contemporâneas (2009).
At the Clark, she will work towards the completion of Thinking Visually: The Afterlives of the Plantation. Combining decolonial visual studies and ecocritical art history, she aims to expand the analysis of images of the plantation and their role within art history.
Free. Accessible seats available; for information, call 413-458-0524.