Tropical Aesthetics of Black Modernism
Samantha A. Noël
Duke University Press
Tropical aesthetics — using art to name and reclaim spaces of Black sovereignty —emerged as a unifying element in the Caribbean modern art movement and the Harlem Renaissance in the early 20th century. Using depictions of tropical scenery and landscapes, performances staged in tropical settings, and bodily expressions of tropicality during Carnival, tropical aesthetics became a way for visual artists and performers to express their sense of belonging to and rootedness in a place. In outlining the centrality of tropical aesthetics in the artistic and cultural practices of Black modernist art, Noël recasts understandings of African diasporic art.