Politics Of Representation And The Paradigm Shift Of Identity In Contemporary African Art Praxis

Abstract

This article examines the political and institutional dynamics shaping contemporary African and African Diaspora artistic praxis. It reconceptualizes politics as a field of symbolic power that structures visibility, legitimacy, and value within global art discourse. Drawing on postcolonial theory and cultural studies, the study explores how colonial visual regimes historically framed African artists through ethnographic and essentialist narratives that obscured individual agency. Although formal colonial rule has ended, structural asymmetries persist in museums, biennials, and the international art market, where African artists are frequently mediated through discourses of authenticity and difference. However, contemporary African and Diaspora artists actively negotiate these conditions through aesthetic innovation, strategic self-representation, and institutional critique. The article argues that African artistic production is neither peripheral nor derivative but central to global modernity. By reframing identity as historically constructed and representation as politically charged, the study positions contemporary African art as transformative within international cultural discourse.