Primitivism

Sophie Howarth, Sarah Wilson, Niru Ratnam, Andrew Brighton, Discussion 1

Niru Ratnam, A Fascination with 'Otherness'  Both Picasso and Matisse drew upon African art early on in their careers, arguably in order to break, or continue in their break from, conventional western visual languages. Niru Ratnam examines the idea of the cultural 'other', how it has been constructed and how it persists in contemporary art.

Sophie Howarth, Gill Perry and Claire Bishop, Discussion 2

Gill Perry, Sculpture and Performance in Ana Mendieta's Silueta Series  Studies of Mendieta's work have frequently interpreted her earth/body art as both instilled with primitivist fantasies of a feminine primordial power, and an obsessive response to trauma and loss.