Identitets-manifesterande konst : Postkolonial studie av Jean-Michel Basquiats konstverk

Sammanfattning: Throughout the centuries artists have used art to express their identity. Art can be used as a tool to question stereotypes and conventions that shape our societies. Black artists emerging from the Civil Rights movements in America questioned social injustices and prejudiced violence that was targeted towards black people. Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was an artist who went against the status quo of a predominantly white art world in America during the 1980s. Basquiat’s art presents a fragmented vision of a colonized” self” in search of reassurance for being a black man and artist during a time when black peoples right where less than equal.Considering recent historic events that has reshaped the conditions and rights that black people and other ethnic minorities hold in American society, it is only suitable to re-read Basquiat’s art all over again through a post-colonial perspective. This is done in order to seek answers to how colonialism and other forms of institutionalized racism has shaped the world. Whose results could prove beneficial for current discourses regarding society’s ethical and racial ethical dilemmas.