Critical Kinship and Ancestral Entanglements in Contemporary Art

This panel examines how contemporary artists seek to understand who they are and from whom they descend, not only through the theoretical analysis of power dynamics and political structures, but also through the intimate study of familial histories. Although such investigations may begin with questions specific to artists’ families, the creative projects they yield underscore the entanglement of the local and global, personal and historical, and the individual and collective. By connecting stories of their biological and chosen kin to larger contexts, artists critique dominant narratives and offer distinct affective perspectives. In work resulting from these inquiries, artists model new approaches to visualizing ancestries through installation, photography, video, and other media. Artists’ interventions in collections, including those maintained by relatives and institutions, demonstrate the creative applications of archives in critical kinship practices.

Questions animating this panel include: How do artists contend with the limitations of conventional genealogical research, such as its reliance on state records and its upholding of biological definitions of family? How do creative practices reconstruct fragmented familial histories amid the ongoing effects of colonialisms, transatlantic slavery, and diasporas? In what ways can artistic investigations of lineages, ancestries, and inheritances redefine notions of kinship and belonging? Ultimately, how might artists transform how kinship is lived and felt?

This panel seeks presentations from scholars, museum professionals, archivists, and creative practitioners whose work engages these topics and themes. We are especially interested in papers informed by Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Black Studies, Indigenous Studies, Latinx Studies, and LGBTQ+ Studies.