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ABSTRACT
Black activists have long crafted systems of identification that intersect politics and aesthetics as a means of promoting social change for oppressed communities around the world. This article uses the global history of black political aesthetics as a framework for interpreting the collaborative practice of two artist activists-Aboriginal Australian Richard Bell (b.1954) and African American Emory Douglas (b.1943). It is the first study to examine their collaboration and interpret it as a mode of political aesthetics. In doing so, it argues, through an analysis of their Burnett Lane mural, that Bell and Douglas create artpolitical environments, in which they synthesise their visual languages, combine overlapping influences, reference historic Black Power imagery, and present internationally recognisable symbolism to collectively challenge global inequalities. The concept of an artpolitical environment, termed by the American philosopher Crispin Sartwell, is discussed in relation to the Marcus Garvey movement of the early twentieth century, and conceptualised through what French philosopher Jacques Ranciere's calls the distribution of the sensible.
In 2011, Richard Bell and Emory Douglas painted A White Hero for Black Australia (Fig. 1)-a collaborative recreation of an iconic image from Australia and North America's shared histories of Black Power. The source image for the mural was taken during the 200-metre medal ceremony at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, where white Australian athlete Peter Norman stood in solidarity with African-American athletes, Tommy Smith and John Carlos, to protest racial inequality and to project globally a message of black empowerment. The image captures the moment the US National Anthem began and Smith and Carlos bowed their heads and raised their fists in an emblematic gesture of Black Power. Wearing black gloves to represent the strength and unity of black minorities, Carlos also has beads around his neck, signifying the global history of lynching. The three athletes are shown with badges on their chests that feature the words: 'We are the Olympic Project for Human Rights'. As professional athletes continue to transform sporting events into sites of sociopolitical protest, the Olympic image remains poignant.
This article examines Bell and Douglas' collaborative art practice as a mode of political aesthetics, and argues that the artists create artpolitical environments that cohere around globally familiar symbolism. The image described above is an...