The art of history : African American women artists engage the past

Lisa Gail Collins examines the work of contemporary African-American women artists at a time when an unprecendented number - photographers, filmmakers, painters, installation and mixed-media artists - have garnered the attention and imagination of the art-viewing public. To better understand the significance of this particular historical moment in American visual arts, Collins focuses on four ""problems"" that recur when these artists confront their histories: the documentation of truth; the status of the black female body; the relationship between art and cultural contact and change; and the relationship between art and black girlhood. By examining the social and cultural histories which African-American women artists engage, Collins hopes to illuminate a dialogue between past and present image-makers.