Reconfiguring Black Womanhood: Disidentification in the Work of Mickalene Thomas and Juliana Huxtable

An examination of a lineage of queer black feminist artistic tradition as seen through the work of Mickalene Thomas and Juliana Huxtable. Both artists use aspects of exclusionary systems and dominant ideologies in order to refuse problematic representations of black womanhood. This process is what José Esteban Muñoz refers to as disidentification. Through the process of disidentification both Huxtable and Thomas reconfigure notions of black womanhood in the visual sphere. Through the examination of both artists’ work alongside one another, one is able to trace and assert a notable generational shift from a queer black womanist approach (Thomas) to a black radical feminist critique (Huxtable).