Identity politics

Identity politics is the term used to describe an anti-authoritarian political and cultural movement that gained prominence in the USA and Europe in the mid-1980s, asking questions about identity, repression, inequality and injustice and often focusing on the experience of marginalised groups

Identity politics emerged out of the 1960s Black Civil Rights Movement, second wave feminism and gay and lesbian liberation. It was confrontational and asked questions about the kind of art that should be made and for whom in a post-colonial world where the history of art was being re-written to encompass a broader, less western-dominated perspective.

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Left Right

Guerrilla Girls, Do Women Have To Be Naked To Get Into the Met. Museum? 1989

read

Feminist art

Feminist art is art by artists made consciously in the light of developments in feminist art theory in the early 1970s

read

Postcolonial art

Postcolonial art refers to art produced in response to the aftermath of colonial rule, frequently addressing issues of national and cultural identity, race and ethnicity

Black Audio Film Collective, still from Handsworth Songs, 1986

read

British black arts movement

The British black arts movement was a radical political art movement founded in 1982 inspired by anti-racist discourse and feminist critique, which sought to highlight issues of race and gender and the politics of representation

read

Diaspora

Diaspora is a term used to describe movements in population from one country to another and is often cited in discussions about identity

read

Black arts movement

The black arts movement was an ideological movement that emerged in the USA in the early 1960s when black artists and intellectuals came together to organise, study and think about what a new black art and black politics movement might be

read

The Blk Art Group

Formed in Wolverhampton, England, in 1979, The Blk Art Group was an association of young black artists who, inspired by the black arts movement, raised questions about what black art was, its identity and what it could become in the future

explore this term

Left Right

listen

Panel discussion: John Akomfrah

Chaired by Mark Fisher and including John Akomfrah, Kodwo Eshun (The Otolith Group) and Beatrix Campbell – the panel explores The Unfinished Conversation’s investigation of cultural, ethnic and personal identity through the memories of Stuart Hall.

listen

Late at Tate Britain: Drawing on Jarman

Derek Jarman (1942–94) is best known as an iconoclastic filmmaker and polemical gay activist who channeled unparalleled energy into painting, writing, gardening and all manner of cultural activity.