On a bitingly cold night in Brooklyn last month, I stepped into a hearth of community burning brightly at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, a drafty, magnificent cathedral hosting the launch of Imani Perry’s Black in Blues.
| On a bitingly cold night in Brooklyn last month, I stepped into a hearth of community burning brightly at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, a drafty, magnificent cathedral hosting the launch of Imani Perry’s Black in Blues: How a Color Tells the Story of My People. Singer Jillian Grace and guitarist Mwanzi Harriott entranced us with a blues overture to Perry’s talk, which granted a glimpse into the chorus of voices and sources she drew upon in writing her book. Among the many passages and quotes plucked for discussion, one in particular sent waves through the rapt audience: “There was a time before Black, but not before blues.” Artist Chloë Bass, who went through a blue period of her own, reviews Perry’s genre-defying, ingenious book today with this observation at its heart. Read her piece below, along with an excerpted chapter by Perry on blue’s kaleidoscopic meanings. Continuing to spin this thread of imagination, Associate Editor Lisa Yin Zhang visited an exhibition of entirely apocryphal tomes, while Ann D’Antonio plumbs a new book on the seemingly bygone Relational Art movement for clues to forging just futures amid global repression. And for your weekly fix of art history and gossip, those two peas in a pod, Olivia McEwan pores over a book on the history of scandals and schemes in London’s art sphere. If you haven’t already, mark your calendar for our Editor-in-Chief Hrag Vartanian’s talk this Wednesday at 8pm (EST) with Tamara Lanier, whose new memoir chronicles her fight to reclaim photos of her enslaved ancestors from Harvard University. We hope to see you there, and in the meantime, happy reading! — Lakshmi Rivera Amin, Associate Editor | | |
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| | Manet’s portrait of Jeanne Duval reveals how racism trains us to see colors in particular and sometimes contradictory ways. | Imani Perry |
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SPONSORED | | | | | Exploring the apocalypse in movies, art, literature, and music, this book considers the endless afterlives of slavery and inequality and revives the radical black imagination to envision the future of blackness. Black Apocalypse argues that black aesthetics take us to the edge of this world and into the next.
Learn more |
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| | | In Black in Blues, Imani Perry reaches to the height of the sky and the depth of the ocean, casting the history of blue as one of both triumph and tragedy, possibility and limitation. | Chloë Bass |
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| | A new book spills the tea on the 20th-century London art scene. | Olivia McEwan |
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| | In a convulsing world with dwindling digital spaces for connection, can Relational Art offer lessons on building community and meaning? | Ann D'Antonio |
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EVENT & EXHIBITIONS | | | Activist Tamara Lanier will join Hrag Vartanian to discuss her new book about her battle with Harvard University for ownership of her enslaved ancestors’ images. |
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| | | It’s clear that this exhibition was put together by a bunch of absolute nerds — and that’s a compliment of the highest order. | Lisa Yin Zhang |
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| You’re currently a free subscriber to Hyperallergic. To support our independent arts journalism, please consider joining us as a member. | | Become a Member |
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