Conceptions of White
Conceptions of White is an exhibition offering context and nuanced perspectives that help viewers grapple with contemporary configurations of White identity. The exhibition examines the origins, travel and present reality of 鈥淲hiteness鈥� as a concept and a racial invention that classifies degrees of civility/humanity.
Select historical objects and artworks illustrate White origin myths within their historical context, revealing Whiteness as a North American, settler-colonial invention of the seventeenth century, created alongside 鈥淏lackness鈥� and 鈥淎boriginality.鈥�
The contemporary artists in this exhibition complicate this historical foundation by examining how these acts of racialization are felt today through concepts of White guilt, anxiety, supremacy, benevolence, fragility and power. These artists encourage us to confront the ideology of cultural erasure embedded in the social construction of Whiteness, the ramifications of its continually expanding borders, and the society fostered by this relatively young theory of racial categorization.
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Conceptions of White is an exhibition offering context and nuanced perspectives that help viewers grapple with contemporary configurations of White identity. The exhibition examines the origins, travel and present reality of 鈥淲hiteness鈥� as a concept and a racial invention that classifies degrees of civility/humanity.
Select historical objects and artworks illustrate White origin myths within their historical context, revealing Whiteness as a North American, settler-colonial invention of the seventeenth century, created alongside 鈥淏lackness鈥� and 鈥淎boriginality.鈥�
The contemporary artists in this exhibition complicate this historical foundation by examining how these acts of racialization are felt today through concepts of White guilt, anxiety, supremacy, benevolence, fragility and power. These artists encourage us to confront the ideology of cultural erasure embedded in the social construction of Whiteness, the ramifications of its continually expanding borders, and the society fostered by this relatively young theory of racial categorization.
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The Vancouver Art Gallery has opened Conceptions of White, a thought-provoking exhibition that examines the idea of Whiteness as a concept and a racial construct鈥攁n idea invented by humans to organize and enforce power relationships.
