Yale University Press  Going There and To Describe a Life from the Richard D. Cohen Lectures

Going There

From the civil rights movement to Black Lives Matter, issues of race, representation, and violence inform this interrogation of art and its necessity in times of crisis.

Richard J. Powell investigates the visual forms of satire produced by black artists in 20th- and 21st-century America. Underscoring the historical use of visual satire as antiracist dissent and introspective critique, Powell argues that it has a distinctly African American lineage. Taking on some of the most controversial works of the past century—in all their complexity, humor, and provocation—Powell raises important questions about the social power of art.

To Describe a Life

This book examines the use of art—and love—as a resource amid the wave of shootings by American police of innocent black women and men. Powerful, challenging, and timely,

To Describe a Life is an invitation to rethink what life in ongoing crisis is and can be—and, indeed, to discover how art can help.