Catha Paquette | California State University Long Beach (original) (raw)

Papers by Catha Paquette

Estudios de arte y estética, 1997

In and Out of View Art and the Dynamics of Circulation, Suppression, and Censorship, 2021

For centuries, state-sanctioned academia and museums have regarded the historical materials of ma... more For centuries, state-sanctioned academia and museums have regarded the historical materials of marginalized groups as trivial or banal, and active suppression allowed entire histories to go unnoticed or be misinterpreted. Revisionist histories started to appear in academic and display institutions with the turn to multiculturalism, which commenced around the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s and spread gradually until it became more prevalent in the 1980s.
The question of how to deal with primary historical materials considered disturbing, sensationalist, or upsetting is taken up in revisionist histories in visual culture. Although their strategies differ greatly, Carrie Mae Weems and Ken Gonzales-Day both work with the problem of historical narrative concealment. Each of these artists has made visible the historical data neglected in mainstream historical accounts and exposed the very processes of erasure inherent in institutional narratives. Acknowledging that historical materials are themselves mediated cultural objects, their works point not only to painful histories of exploitation and injustice but also to the ways in which those conditions have been framed by history or ignored by it. This essay shows the different modes by which the two artists relocated history in the present day, confronting the master narrative of history as constructed and/or censored yet having a concrete effect on living bodies.1 To reveal history’s Janus-headed operation, these artists take on the role of historian, their work a form of revisionist history.

Public Art Dialogue, 2015

The Latin Americanist, 2010

597 87 43 info@ibero-americana.net www.ibero-americana.net ISBN 978-84-8489-674-6 (Iberoamericana... more 597 87 43 info@ibero-americana.net www.ibero-americana.net ISBN 978-84-8489-674-6 (Iberoamericana) ISBN 978-3-86527-719-0 (Vervuert) ISBN 978-1-936353-08-8 (Iberoamericana Vervuert Publishing Corp.) Depósito Legal: Frontispiece: Las Américas unidas para la victoria y el progreso humano (Calendar sheet, produced by the United States Office of Inter-American Affairs), depicting a U.S.-American and a Latin American soldier shaking hands over a seated woman and two children. The background has a globe and military equipment. The border contains images of Catholic symbols and saints. Courtesy of Hennepin County Library, Kittleson World War II Collection, MPW00444. Cover design: Marcela López Parada This book is printed on acid-free paper. in memory of Friedrich Katz

Estudios de arte y estética, 1997

In and Out of View Art and the Dynamics of Circulation, Suppression, and Censorship, 2021

For centuries, state-sanctioned academia and museums have regarded the historical materials of ma... more For centuries, state-sanctioned academia and museums have regarded the historical materials of marginalized groups as trivial or banal, and active suppression allowed entire histories to go unnoticed or be misinterpreted. Revisionist histories started to appear in academic and display institutions with the turn to multiculturalism, which commenced around the passage of civil rights legislation in the 1960s and spread gradually until it became more prevalent in the 1980s.
The question of how to deal with primary historical materials considered disturbing, sensationalist, or upsetting is taken up in revisionist histories in visual culture. Although their strategies differ greatly, Carrie Mae Weems and Ken Gonzales-Day both work with the problem of historical narrative concealment. Each of these artists has made visible the historical data neglected in mainstream historical accounts and exposed the very processes of erasure inherent in institutional narratives. Acknowledging that historical materials are themselves mediated cultural objects, their works point not only to painful histories of exploitation and injustice but also to the ways in which those conditions have been framed by history or ignored by it. This essay shows the different modes by which the two artists relocated history in the present day, confronting the master narrative of history as constructed and/or censored yet having a concrete effect on living bodies.1 To reveal history’s Janus-headed operation, these artists take on the role of historian, their work a form of revisionist history.

Public Art Dialogue, 2015

The Latin Americanist, 2010

597 87 43 info@ibero-americana.net www.ibero-americana.net ISBN 978-84-8489-674-6 (Iberoamericana... more 597 87 43 info@ibero-americana.net www.ibero-americana.net ISBN 978-84-8489-674-6 (Iberoamericana) ISBN 978-3-86527-719-0 (Vervuert) ISBN 978-1-936353-08-8 (Iberoamericana Vervuert Publishing Corp.) Depósito Legal: Frontispiece: Las Américas unidas para la victoria y el progreso humano (Calendar sheet, produced by the United States Office of Inter-American Affairs), depicting a U.S.-American and a Latin American soldier shaking hands over a seated woman and two children. The background has a globe and military equipment. The border contains images of Catholic symbols and saints. Courtesy of Hennepin County Library, Kittleson World War II Collection, MPW00444. Cover design: Marcela López Parada This book is printed on acid-free paper. in memory of Friedrich Katz