From Cecil Rhodes to Emmett Till: Postcolonial Dilemmas in Visual Representation

Abstract

This chapter presents a transnational analysis of the two most controversial decolonial protests in contemporary visual culture: the demand to remove public memorials celebrating imperialism and slavery outside the museum and the dispute over the right to show historical images exposing the bodily violence of racial terrorism and white supremacy in the museum. Considering these divisive debates over colonial history side by side, it investigates the transformative role of visual and esthetic practices in these campaigns. Based on the Rhodes Must Fall Campaign movement born at the University of Cape Town (2015) and the display of Dana Schutz's painting Open Casket at the Whitney Biennial in New York (2017), this essay examines what implications they hold for reframing postcolonial studies today.