Luisa Knoben

  Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences | Bachelor Arts and Culture

"Masking the Self: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Engagement with Masks, Diaspora, Aesthetics, and Identity in his Self-Portraits?"

Luisa's elevator pitch
"My thesis explores Basquiat’s incorporation of masks into his self-portraits from 1982-1984 and the significance of this imagery within the context of African diaspora aesthetics. Drawing on theories by Kobena Mercer, Stuart Hall, and Homi K. Bhabha, and by means of a detailed semiotic analysis, I argue that Basquiat’s use of masks in his self-portraits, as part of his social critique and based on his diaspora identity, has created a space that represents the hybrid nature of diaspora existence and identity and allows room for both resistance and subversion of existing social and cultural structures such as racism and white supremacy."