Going Dark: The Contemporary Figure at the Edge of Visibility

Edited with introduction and text by Ashley James Text by Abbe Schriber, Ayanna Dozier, Key Jo Lee, Legacy Russell, and Jordan Carter Contributions by Kevin Young, Harmony Holiday, Nontsikelelo Mutiti, Rio Cortez, Kristian Henson, Hassan Rahim, and Marwa Helal From Dawoud Bey and Lorna Simpson to Sondra Perry and Kerry James Marshall, a multiethnic group of artists explores what it means to be seen, not seen or erased in the world through formal experimentations with the figureGoing Dark brings together a multigenerational group of contemporary artists who engage the "semi-visible" figure―representations that are partially (or fully) obscured, including, in some cases, literally darkened―and suggests that the concept of going dark is a tool that has been used by artists for decades to probe enduring questions surrounding both the potential and the discontents of social visibility. Across mediums―painting, photography, sculpture, video, and installation―Going Dark names, charts, and mak