Customer Reviews

Art on My Mind: Visual Politics

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hooks challenges all who reads this book find the importance in their own histories. She makes the reader aware of the lack of representation of African American artists as well as the lack of representation of minorities and women in art history. She looks at more than just the injustice of the whole system but also the importance of images in peoples lives.

hooks has a very refreshing style of writing in that she is not afraid to allow the reader to enter her personal life. I felt as if I were involved in a personal conversation with her.

This book is, at its best, thought-provoking, in that its discussions of art from an African-American feminist perspective employ a voice not often heard in the field. However, there are flaws to the work, in the opinion of this reviewer. First, not all of the works discussed are illustrated, which makes it difficult at times to perceive what the author is discussing. Second, while the essay chapters are strong, the "talking art with" chapters are less so: the artist featured in each chapter comes across as more of a foil to hooks's lengthy expositions. This, combined with an overuse of the term "palimpsest" throughout the book, lends a note of arrogance to the writing.

This is the one book that hooks has published that is genuinely interesting. It isn't a watershed of insights, but it does have some interesting pieces that provoke thought without her usual strident, oppressive tone, that tends to shut out discussion rather than encourage it. The book is not artfully written, but it is readable, and dips less into the usual repetition and redundancy of her other work.