Wool, Clay and Palm: Craft and Primitivism as Paradigms in Contemporary Art, In Craft, edited by Ileana Parvu

Radwan, Nadia (2022). Wool, Clay and Palm: Craft and Primitivism as Paradigms in Contemporary Art, In Craft, edited by Ileana Parvu (Submitted). In: Craft. Dijon: Les presses du réel

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Craft and primitivism are two notions that have forged modernism while they have often been marginalized in art discourses. They are contested concepts with shifting meanings throughout times, navigating between ‘high’ and ‘low’. Today, the notion of craft is being widely revisited by contemporary artists who combine handwork (wood carving, glass blowing, textile weaving, ceramic…) with conceptual approaches. Crafts embrace multiple forms of making related to knowledge, including handwork, industrial arts, amateur activity, digital arts and craftivism. The notion of primitivism also embodies multi-layered meanings referring or linked to artisanal activity and its colonial past and is often linked to art from the global margins. However, the critical connection of craft and primitivism in contemporary art and curatorial approaches has been overlooked by scholarship, while it brings to the fore the intersectionality of gender, ethnicity and race issues that structure the so-called global art world. Looking at the work of artists from the Middle East and North Africa who engage with crafts, such as Susan Hefuna or Majd Abelhamid, this article examines the politics and the potential for resistance that underlies the intersection of primitivism and craft in contemporary art production.

Item Type:	Book Section (Book Chapter)
Division/Institute:	06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Art History > Contemporary Art 06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institute of Art History
UniBE Contributor:	Radwan, Nadia Susanne
Subjects:	700 Arts 700 Arts > 730 Sculpture, ceramics & metalwork 700 Arts > 740 Drawing & decorative arts 700 Arts > 750 Painting 700 Arts > 760 Graphic arts
Publisher:	Les presses du réel
Language:	English
Submitter:	Nadia Susanne Radwan
Date Deposited:	28 Apr 2022 10:06
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 16:18
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/168867