This open access volume explores how artists from a range of postcolonial nations have grappled with received ideas of gender identity, subverted and complicated them, in turn rethinking the normative gender values so often reflected from the Western canon. Exploring a diverse array of artistic and cultural practices, the book analyzes the intersection of gender with race, religion, and sexuality to arrive at a more nuanced understanding of the complexity of gender in both its representation and interpretation across various geographical settings. The chapters address diverse art practices and cover multiple media, covering performance, photography, textile art, as well as practices of curating and collecting.

Presenting a range of case studies from Southern Africa and other areas within the Global South, such as Latin America, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, the comparative approach explores similarities and differences within gendered practices in the region. Intersections is split into two thematic sections – 'Experiencing Gender' and 'Gendered Contexts' – and looks at how the embodied experience of gender is intimately connected to the influences arising from the complexities of spaces, places and sites in the Global South and how gender and postcolonial identities intersect.

It highlights the importance of subversive creativity in redefining gendered identities, interrogating the effect of geopolitics, and ultimately questioning cultural structures. As such, the contributions probe emerging practices and art histories to reveal a rich legacy of creative non-conformity across historically oppressive contexts. Together, the chapters raise a powerful critique against gender-based and geographical discrimination in art history.


The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Bloomsbury Open Collections Library Collective.

Karen von Veh is Professor Emerita in the Visual Art Department at University of Johannesburg, South Africa.
Landi Raubenheimer is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Design Studies at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. She has published on art, media and spectatorship in journals such as Critical Arts, Image & Text, the Journal of Literary Studies and de arte.