I still think of what I do and what a lot of the art historians I like do as being art criticism rather than art history.
| 1994
Q: Art history as many know it has traditionally been told through the eyes of white males. In your opinion, what can African American scholars—men, women, queer, and non-binary—bring to the field of study?
A: In fact, other voices have been setting alternative agendas for the practice of cultural history for over half a century. … But obviously much work remains. One way to move a field is, first, to recognize that an area of study is usually way broader than the existing maps indicate, and, second, to make use of the space you gain upon that recognition. A richer and broader framework is readily available, and this is just something you feel, I think, when you try to look at everything and read widely. It helps to remember that if you’re doing it, then it’s happening in your area of study.
| 2021