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thestylehq.com

Wangechi Mutu  is a Kenyan artist and sculptor that works and resides in Brooklyn, New York. Mutu attended the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales, U.K. After studying in Wales she went on to receive her BFA at The Cooper Union in New York. She then went on to achieve a MFA at the Yale University School of Art. Mutu’s work often revolves around themes of gender, race, and colonialism. And although she is known best for her paintings and sculptures, she dabbles in collage, animation and video, and performance pieces.

Her work aims to creatively challenge and ultimately break apart imperial colonial ideals, as well as socially constructed roles that unfortunately become so detrimental to the development of identities. Mutu has been associated with Afrofuturism for her representation of human-machine hybrid creations in some of her work. Afrofuturism has been described by some as a way of using science fiction to create different realities for Africans and their descendants. Her piece The End of Eating Everything is a work of hers that showcases her representation of hybrid creations.

Wangechi Mutu. The End of Eating Everything. 2013

nytimes.com

Carrie Mae Weems  is an African-American artist who specializes in photography, but also works with text, fabric, audio, installation, video, and digital images. Weems earned her bachelor’s at California Institute of the Arts Valencia, and then proceeded to earn her master’s degree at the University of California. Her work tends to investigate themes such as racism, political systems, personal identity, sexism, and family relationships. Her work also centers primarily on the status of Afro-Americans in the United States. But while the experience of the black person was at the forefront of her work, she makes it a point to note that her work is reflective of a universal human experience. Social inclusion is ultimately the ideal that she hopes people take away from her artwork.

Carrie Mae Weems. The Kitchen Table Series. 1990

brooklynmuseum.org

 Lorna Simpson  is an African-American artist that also specializes in photography and multimedia. She attended the High School of Art and Design in New York, and then went on to earn her BFA at the School of Visual Arts also located in New York. She attained her MFA from the University of California at San Diego. It was there that she developed a particular style for photo-text, which is graphic text embedded to portraiture. Her conceptual photography explores themes of race, sex, ethnicity, identity, culture, and history. They investigate the African-American woman's experience in contemporary society. The subjects of her work can often times be seen in various perspectives, with a frontal view being the least of those perspectives. Simpson depicts them from the back, and if they are shown in frontal view, their faces are sometimes omitted or obscured.

time.com

Kara Walker  is an African-American silhouettist, print-maker, painter, film maker, and installation artist. Walker earned her BFA at Atlanta College of Art and received her MFA at Rhode Island School of Design. Her conceptual art examines themes of identity, race, gender, violence, and sexuality. Walker is known best for her silhouettes that address America's history with slavery. She has received a great deal of criticism for those works. Some felt she belittled the reality of the African-American experience. Walker insists there are no ill intentions with her silhouettes, and they simply address an significant time in American history.

Kara Walker. The Means to an End: A Shadow Act in Five Acts. 1995

uclan.ac.uk

Lubaina Himid  is an African painter born in Tanzania and raised in Great Britain. She studied theater design at Wimbledon College of Art. She later earned a master's degree in cultural history from the Royal College of Art. She was a helping hand in driving the Black Arts Movement in Britain. The movement was a political movement that aimed to address the struggles of gender and race and the politics of representation. Himid's artwork focused on themes of race, culture, and appropriation. Himid was highly critical of Modernism and it's tendency to appropriate elements of non-western culture, and perpetuate a notion of dominance over the appropriated culture.