Stick to the Skin

The first comparative history of African American and Black British artists, artworks, and art movements, Stick to the Skin traces the lives and works of over fifty painters, photographers, sculptors, and mixed-media, assemblage, installation, video, and performance artists working in the United States and Britain from 1965 to 2015. The artists featured in this book cut to the heart of hidden histories, untold narratives, and missing memories to tell stories that "stick to the skin" and arrive at a new "Black lexicon of liberation."

Informed by extensive research and invaluable oral testimonies, Celeste-Marie Bernier’s remarkable text forcibly asserts the originality and importance of Black artists’ work and emphasizes the need to understand Black art as a distinctive category of cultural production. She launches an important intervention into European histories of modern and contemporary art and visual culture as well as into debates within African American studies, African diasporic studies, and Black British studies.

Artists featured:

Larry Achiampong

Hurvin Anderson

 Benny Andrews

Rasheed Araeen  

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Zarina Bhimji

Sutapa Biswas

Frank Bowling

Sonia Boyce

Vanley Burke

Chila Kumari Burman

Eddie Chambers

Thornton Dial 

Godfried Donkor

Kimathi Donkor

Sokari Douglas Camp

Melvin Edwards

Mary Evans

Nicola Frimpong

Joy Gregory

Bessiey Harvey

Mona Hatoum

Lubaina Himid

Lonnie Holley

Gavin Jantjes

Claudette Johnson 

Tam Joseph

Roshini Kempadoo

Juginder Lamba

Hew Locke

Steve McQueen

Chris Ofili

Keith Piper

Ingrid Pollard

Thomas J. Price

Noah Purifoy

Faith Ringgold

Donald Rodney

Betye Saar

Joyce J. Scott 

Yinka Shonibare

Gurminder Sikand

Marlene Smith 

Maud Sulter

Barbara Walker

Kara Walker

Carrie Mae Weems

Deborah Willis

Hank Willis Thomas

Lynette Yiadom-Boakye