ANDY HEDGECOCK relishes two exhibitions that blur the boundaries between art and community engagement
I create, therefore I am
GAVIN O’TOOLE explores the resistance expressed by central American artists to their own erasure by US imperialist policies

Visual Disobedience: Art and Decoloniality in Central America
Kency Cornejo, Duke University Press, £22.99
IT is a breathtaking revelation to learn that, to date, no US academic book has offered a history of Central American art, analysed it in relation to the legacies of its own brutal colonialism in the isthmus, or examined the resulting decolonial resistance this has spawned.
Such a powerful observation by Kency Cornejo in itself represents a protest against the sub-region’s invisibility in colonial aesthetics, and the author goes on to offer potent examples of the creative backlash this has given rise to.
It is not a niche observation confined to the rarefied air of university art history departments but one with profound significance for postcolonial studies that extends far beyond the field in real time.
More from this author

Here’s an antidote to the Venezuela election-induced tantrums of Western elites. GAVIN O’TOOLE reviews it

GAVIN O’TOOLE applauds an analysis of culture that explains why political conflicts today are focused more on values and identity than the economy and social questions

GAVIN O’TOOLE observes that the call for a new international framework for conflict mediation is fatally marred by a partisan position on the Isreali-Gazan conflict

The argument that labour parties, supported by conservative trade unions, are instrumental to capitalism has contemporary resonance, suggests GAVIN O’TOOLE
Similar stories

JOHN GREEN debates the potential of a book that explores fascism in US history and its contemporary impact to reach the audience it deserves

FRANCOISE VERGES introduces a powerful new book that explores the damage done by colonial theft

FRAN LOCK welcomes a discussion of culture designed to stimulate discussion and help to develop practical campaigns