READERS 2.7 (in-person) // Art On My Mind by bell hooks

For this session of READERS we will read bell hooks’ essay Women Artists: The Creative Process from the 1995 book Art On My Mind. The essay explores the importance of unstructured leisure time for true creation, and the difficulties to access it in a capitalist and patriarchal society. We will interrogate ideas of laziness, success, the standardisation of the artistic journey, and how to make time when there is none.

READERS is designed to be accessible regardless of your academic background. You are encouraged to read the essay in full but do not feel put off if you cannot finish it or struggle with its content.

You can access the text ahead of the session here. Here's a couple of quotes from the text:

'If one could make a people lose touch with their capacity to create, lose sight of their will and their power to make art, then the work of subjugation, of colonization, is complete. Such work can be undone only by acts of reclamation.’
In a collection of essays, critiques and interviews, bell hooks responds to the ongoing dialogues about producing, exhibiting and criticising art and aesthetics in a world increasingly concerned with identity politics. hooks shares her own experience of the transformative power of art whilst exploring topics ranging from art in education and the home to the politics of space and imagination as a revolutionary tool. She positions her writings on visual politics within the ever-present question of how art can be empowering within the Black community.
Speaking with artists such as Carrie Mae Weems and Alison Saar, and examining the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Art on My Mind is a generous and expansive body of work that has become increasingly relevant since it was first published in 1995. Here is an essential tool for understanding the contemporary moment, and a fundamental text for any reader concerned with making and sustaining a democratic artistic culture.

READERS is open to all regardless of academic background. While it is encouraged to read as much of the text as possible, please don’t be put off joining us if you cannot finish the text for any reason.

A digital copy of the excerpt is available, and will also be sent out to bookers via email ahead of the session.

This is a ticketed event with limited capacity and you must book in order to attend. Tickets work on a sliding scale, and all proceeds help AGITATE continue to operate and programme events like this. Half of all proceeds from ticket sales go to the business, and half go to the speaker/host. The recommended ticket price is £6. Thank you - your donations ensure the survival of spaces like this, and allow us to keep a sliding scale system in place.

The venue is wheelchair accessible, including the toilet facilities. There is private breakout space available too for anyone who would benefit from this.

There are always two groups, one in-person in Edinburgh and one online. Digital copies of the selected text will be circulated in good time before the session.

• Book on this page to join in-person: Wednesday 13th November, 6:30 - 8PM.
• Book to join online: Wednesday 11th December, 6.30 - 8PM

READERS was created by Mayanne Soret and is now facilitated by Kat Gollock and Christina Webber. If you have any questions, please feel free to email [email protected]

Host or Publisher Agitate