Document Type
Article
Publication Date
11-2023
Abstract
By virtue, Beyonce’s visual album, “Lemonade" can be seen as a form of Black Feminist theorizing as she creates images of the feminine along a personal narrative backdrop of infidelity and healing. To delegitimize controlling images of Black femininity, I will investigate how forms of the Haitian Vodou Lwa Ezili appear in the visual to problematize feminine constructions. Thus, this project aims to confront existing literature that either imposes external definitions of Black femininity or centers these images in its critique. I will take a triangular approach to trace how and where Iwa Ezili appears in Lemonade. By using Jennifer Nash’s racial iconography, Judd’s theory of affective sedulity, and Tinsley’s presentations of the feminine through Iwa Ezili, I will examine how the feminine is postured, and what possibilities of femininity are imagined. This work validates art as theory, and works to identify a Black femininity that is constructed by the lived experiences of Black women.
Recommended Citation
Smith, Samara J.. (2023) Disrupting the Gender Script: How Beyoncé’s Lemonade Reimagines a Black Queer Feminine | POSTER.
https://via.library.depaul.edu/strc_undergraduate_student_research_fellowship/8
Embargo
2024
Comments
Poster corresponding to Samara J. Smith's research paper, presented at the STRC's 2023 Fall Symposium.