Abstract
The majority of studies on issues of race are focused on the racial conditions of the people of color. Similarly, most artworks with focus on race tackle issues related to the lives of African-Americans and other peoples of color. By contrast, in this thesis project I visually explore through paint, racially based identity formation to specifically speak about whiteness. To narrow this field, I reference the literature of three authors within the field of critical race theory: Sarah Ahmed, Renni Eddo-Lodge and Robin DiAngelo. My paintings are the result of the knowledge I gained by studying these authors and the attempt to visualize this knowledge. This body of work is also inspired by my personal experience of living in racially segregated neighborhoods in America and South Africa. Through the use of the figure and cartographic imagery, the paintings become a reflection of the locations, styles and capacities my own white body has been allowed to inhabit. I use the figure as a visual marker for the socially enforced habitual actions of the white population that perpetuate the unjust racial hierarchies of our social and political systems. In effect, the paintings become an active engagement in the disruption of the racial status quo of the United States of America.