Renée Cox’s Hot-en-tot Venus illustrates the two common representations of female nudity in society: the sexualisation of female bodies in media which endorses the cliché “sex sells”; and the celebration of the female body (suggested by Cox’s confident and poised expression). Cox, more specifically, addresses the misrepresentation of black females by directly alluding to the grotesque objectification of Saartjie Baartman (commonly referred to as Hottentot Venus). Baartman’s bulbous derriere (caused by steatopygia) was exploited by freak shows as she was paraded around Europe to entertain and astonish the public. She was depicted as an oddity, a monstrosity whilst also being fetishized to satiate men’s erotic fantasies. N. Gordon-Chipembere in her book Representation and Black Womanhood: The Legacy of Sarah Baartman (2011, p.1) wrote “She has become the landscape upon which multiple narratives of exploitation and suffering within black womanhood have been enacted”. Cox transforms this contaminated perception of black women by embracing her body with pride and great fondness. Her overpowering adoration for her own body creates a sense of impregnable freedom, she refuses to be silenced. Within the image, her body glows amid the solid black background; she radiates strength and power.

GORDON-CHIPEMBERE, N. (2011) Representation and Black Womanhood: The Legacy of Sarah Baartman, 1st ed. US: Palgrave Schol

Susan May and Christopher Bedford comment on the of Mark Bradford’s exhibition Through Darkest America By Truck And Tank (16 October- 22 December 2013), White Cube Bermondsey. Susan May is an artist director at White Cube and Christopher Bedford writes for various art journals and exhibition catalogues. Typically, Mark Bradford specialises in collages and paintings to create unwonted and indubitably beautiful art. The material he uses are carefully chosen to fit the setting of his painting whether it be relics of everyday life such as scraps of posters and billboards. During the discussion with May of Bradford’s sculptural installation project Veni Vidi Vici (I come, I saw, I conquer), Bradford addresses his preoccupation with the concept of change. He is interested in the way changing social movements influence the course of history, particularly, the change in black culture during 1980. Due to the influence of American Hip-hop, most African-American men were perceived to be thuggish, virile, aggressive and overtly masculine; as Bradford declared “Black was a hard, male body”(pg.82). Yet, after the rise of HIV, this “manufactured knowing” of the black male stereotype is challenged; the disease physically debilitates and erodes the body. These two versions of perception manufacture an oxymoronic being; Bradford plans to create a sculpture to represent the shift in the depiction of the black male body.

Bradford, M. (2013) Mark Bradford Through darkest America by truck and tank. London: White Cube