Wednesday, April 27, 2016

OpEd: Beyoncé, White Expectations and Black Agitation

At the end of 2015 the Brooklyn Museum opened an exhibit entitled Agitprop! The name is a blend of the terms agitation and propaganda used as tactics by artists to engage the public on social issues. The mission of the exhibit was to showcase "key moments in history, where artists have reached beyond galleries and museums, using their work as a call to action to create political and social change."

Beyoncé has made a deliberate shift from entertainer to agitator extraordinaire.

True art should provoke emotion and with over 2 million tweets in just 48 hours following the release—let's just say her message was received— with many still reeling from what they experienced last Saturday night, myself included.

LEMONADE as I described in an earlier essay is Beyoncé's lyrical and visual dissertation on the soul of a black woman. The context of her latest body of work is raw, painful, complex, and celebratory - and dare I say revolutionary. All from an artist who has created a global brand which had worked to transcend race—an often binding construct for many artists especially ones of color who find themselves hitting the ceiling and floor of a whitewashed industry. 

Click here for the full article.

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