"The "White Darkness
Considering Modernist Investments in the “Primitive” Through Maya Deren’s Work in Haiti (1947-53)
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3774251 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Elliot Evans (Department of Modern Languages, Ashley Building University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TTUK, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 3-4 |
| Pages | 143-162 |
| Publication date | 2022-07-04 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Angelaki (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0969-725X • E-ISSN: 1469-2899 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/0969725x.2022.2093972 |
| OpenAlex | W4294956277 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 18 |
Rather than considering the modernist aesthetic of primitivism as singular, this article contends that there are multiple and diverse primitivist projects. Each of these speaks to its historical context, and this article considers that of the Ukrainian-born, American avant-garde film-maker Maya Deren's primitivist investments in Haiti through her published writing, diary entries and her film footage produced between 1948 and 1953. Deren's work must be understood in relation to US imperialism and the occupation of Haiti (1915-34). It is also informed by her complex modernist aesthetics, Trotskyist politics and proximity to the New Negro movement through her association with choreographer and anthropologist Katherine Dunham. Despite a clearly articulated modernist vision for her film in Haiti, when confronted with the material reality of Haiti itself Deren abandoned her film in favour of a written "personal ethnography." This article considers Deren's refusal of film and the fracturing of her aesthetic gaze, framed as a refusal to manipulate reality, in the context of colonial ethnographic film. Finally, it considers the legacy of - and resistance to - Western imperialism and voyeurism informing Haitian artistic works today, as well as the policies of the Geto Byenal (Ghetto Biennale), held in Port-au-Prince from 2009 onwards
Aesthetics · Art · Art history · Colonialism · Context (archaeology · Ethnography · Film director · Maya · Movie theater · Political science · Politics · Psychoanalysis · Relation (database · Resistance (ecology · Sociology · Visual arts · Voyeurism · White (mutation · African history and culture studies · Anthropology · Cinema and Media Studies · History · Law · Psychology · Race, History, and American Society
Primitivism and Twentieth-Century Art
Beyond Primitivism
Inventing the New Negro
Emerging film cultures
The Problem of Invisibility
Challenging the Negative Image of Postcolonial, Post-conflict and Post-disaster Destinations Using Events
Divine horsemen
Keep alive the powers of Africa
Haiti and Black Transnationalism
Maya Deren
Contemporary Art as Cultural Product in the Context of Haiti
Cinema in Haiti
| Highly cited | No |
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