Exiles, Diasporas & Strangers

Cross-cultural perspectives on the critical roles of migration and displacement in 20th-century art

Edited by Kobena Mercer

Fourth book in the Annotating Art's Histories series
Copublished by Iniva (Institute of International
Visual Arts) and The MIT Press, March 2008

ISBN: 978-1-899846-45-0, £15.95
224pp, softback with flaps, 235 x 180mm
full colour, 36 illustrations

Supported by The Getty Foundation and Arts Council England

‘A brilliant re-reading of the themes of the conventional histories of contemporary art' - Stuart Hall, Emeritus Professor, Open University

‘If diaspora is synonymous with dispersal, so Kobena Mercer disperses our notion of it as fixed and its consequences as homogenous. These texts respond to his call for fresh analytical tools and historical paradigms for investigating the contexts and complexities of diasporic aesthetics'
- Lisa Graziose Corrin, Director, Williams College Museum of Art

Examining life-changing journeys that transplanted artists and intellectuals from one cultural context to another, Exiles, Diasporas & Strangers, the fourth and final volume in the Annotating Art's Histories series, offers a thematic overview of the critical and creative role of estrangement and displacement in the story of 20th-century art.

These critical studies by distinguished international scholars and writers reveal the traumatic conditions that shaped many variants of modernism, among indigenous artists in Australia and Canada as much as émigré art historians from Central Europe. They also highlight the multidirectional cross-appropriation that disturbed the settled boundaries of national belonging, whether in 1920s Nigeria or in post-modern works by black British artists of the 1980s. Giving an historical perspective to conceptual art's engagement with 'the other', Exiles, Diasporas & Strangers makes a unique contribution to art history's reading of post-colonial change.

Contributors: Jean Fisher (Middlesex University), Sieglinde Lemke (Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg); Amna Malik (Slade School of Fine Art); Steven A. Mansbach (University of Maryland); Ian McLean (University of Western Australia); Kobena Mercer (Middlesex University); Ikem Stanley Okoye (University of Delaware); Ruth B. Phillips (Carleton University)

The Annotating Art's Histories series features internationally renowned scholars and curators at the critical edge of current research in art history, visual culture and the humanities. Building up a richer understanding of cultural difference as a dynamic feature of 20th-century art, this acclaimed series is essential reading for students, practitioners and anyone curious about cross-cultural interaction in the visual arts.

Other books in the series
Pop Art and Vernacular Cultures
Discrepant Abstraction
Cosmopolitan Modernisms

Notes to editors

Kobena Mercer is reader in Diaspora Studies in the Department of Visual Culture and Media at Middlesex University, London, and is an inaugural recipient of the 2006 Clark Prize for Excellence in Arts Writing. He has taught at New York University and University of California at Santa Cruz and received fellowships from Cornell University and the New School University in New York. His first book, Welcome to the Jungle (1994) opened new lines of enquiry in art, film and photography; his monographs include James VanDerZee, Adrian Piper, Isaac Julien, Rotimi Fani-Kayode and Keith Piper; and his writings on art and identity are featured in several landmark anthologies, including Out There (1990), Visual Culture: The Reader (1999) and Theorising Diaspora (2003).

Iniva publications Iniva's publishing programme has established an international reputation for its wide range of titles - including catalogues, artists' monographs, anthologies of art criticism - which promote diverse critical perspectives on modern and contemporary art and advance critical debate internationally. Other recent titles include: the States of Exchange exhibition catalogue, Changing States an anthology marking 10 years of Iniva and the award winning Shades of Black.

Iniva creates exhibitions, publications, multimedia, education and research projects designed to bring the work of artists from culturally-diverse backgrounds to the attention of the widest possible public. (www.iniva.org). In 2007 Rivington Place, Iniva and Autograph ABP's new contemporary visual arts space opened in the heart of East London. Supported by the Arts Council England Lottery Capital 2 Programme, it is the UK's first permanent home for culturally diverse visual arts and photography. Barclays Bank plc is the Rivington Place founding corporate partner, contributing £1million towards the development. This innovative partnership reflects Barclays' history of supporting positive social change and making a real and lasting difference to the diverse communities in which it operates.

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More information

Martha Oakes Press Manager moakes@iniva.org tel: +44 (0)20 8854 5460 / + 44 (0)7798 626555