Art on My Mind

Visual Politics

bell hooks

$24.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

Penguin
05 August 2025

Art & Architecture; Theory of art; Theory of architecture; Feminism & feminist theory; Ethnic studies; Political activism

Series: Penguin Modern Classics

A rich, thought-provoking collection of essays, critiques and interviews from the influential author of Ain't I a Woman and All About Love

'There must be a revolution in the way we see, the way we look'

In a collection of essays, critiques and interviews, bell hooks responds to the ongoing dialogues about producing, exhibiting and criticizing 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.

By: bell hooks
Imprint: Penguin
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 198mm, Width: 129mm, Spine: 17mm
Weight: 236g
ISBN: 9780241711491
ISBN 10: 0241711495
Series: Penguin Modern Classics
Pages: 304
Publication Date: 05 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

bell hooks (1952-2021) was an influential cultural critic, feminist theorist and writer. Celebrated as one of America's leading public intellectuals, she was a charismatic speaker and writer who taught and lectured around the world. Previously a professor in the English departments at Yale University and Oberlin College, hooks was the author of more than seventeen books, including The New York Times bestseller All About Love- New Visions; Salvation- Black People and Love; and Communion- The Female Search for Love, as well as the landmark memoir Bone Black- Memories of Girlhood.

Reviews for Art on My Mind: Visual Politics

In an art world obsessed with identity politics, Art on My Mind is a long-overdue rescue of the liberating, rather than confining, power of art * Paper Magazine * Sharp and persuasive * The New York Times Book Review * When truth teller and careful writer bell hooks offers a book, I like to be standing at the bookshop when it opens -- Maya Angelou Passionate and highly personal * Publishers Weekly * [Art on My Mind] is a guide to the ways that political meaning and esthetic pleasure may be discovered, bound together, in many works by contemporary artists of color * Art America * [hooks] brings a welcome clarity to such issues as received art and the development of a Western canon * San Francisco Examiner * As erudite and sophisticated as hooks is, she is also eminently readable, even exhilarating * Booklist *