Art and Genre

Amy Devitt in her article Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept she lays out the ground work for the new concept of genre. "Genre is a dynamic response to and construction of recurring situation, one that changes historically and in different social groups, that adapts and grows as the social context changes," (Devitt 580). The idea that genre changes constantly and adapts to the new social movements and changes of the period is one that is important when thinking about Duval-Carrié's exhibit in the Tallahassee Arts museum entitled "Decolonizing Refinement: Contemporary Pursuits in the Art of Edouard Duval-Carrié". In this exhibit we can see the work from the Haitian-born artist who lived in Miami. Duval-Carrié's works take on their shape due to his Caribbean roots. The exhibit was driven by ideologies in North Florida as well as the southeastern United States and had traces in plantation agriculture, race, and slavery. His pieces show a uprising of art that has been historically ignored, Black art. The notion of genre shaping situation is one that is prevalent in this collection do to it being art work that depicts the notions of the white man from the perspective of the slave.

"Knowing the genre, therefore, means knowing such things as appropriate subject matter, level of detail, tone, and approach as well as the usual layout and organization. Knowing the genre means knowing not only, or even most of all, how to conform to generic conventions but also how to respond appropriately to a given situation," (Devitt 577). This notion of the genre being something that reoccurs and ultimately gives the audience the guidelines of what to feel before experiencing the work is one that this exhibit breaks. Trying to relate to these art pieces is one that is hard to do unless knowing the history behind some of the techniques of the black artist. "Is not, after al the first speaker, the one who disturbs the eternal silence of the universe," (Bakhtin 69). Duval-Carrié could be argued as being one of the founding fathers of the specific genre of North Floridian culture mixed with Caribbean cultural. He broke the eternal silence of the universe with his unique interpretation on this specific time in history.

The image above is the Caribbean notion of zombies, which are not like the American negative idea about zombies. It invokes the idea of live after death. 

The idea of "the sublime" in regards to Duval-Carrié's exhibit is one that let's emotion lie within the audience. The bright colors and use of depth in multiple perspectives, as well as the combination of historical background in the beginning section, with the use of words to show the history of North Florida and how it has changed with the integration of black culture, and moving into just the raw artwork. The emotional resonance lies with the audience in their ability to show empathy and relate to the message being shown. 

 Works Cited:

Bakhtin, M. M. "Discourse in the Novel." The Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M. M. Bakhtin. Ed. Michael Holquist. Trans. Caryl Emerson and Michael Holquist. Austin and London: U of Texas P, 1981. 259-422

Devitt, Amy J. "Generalizing about Genre: New Conceptions of an Old Concept." College Composition and Communication 44.4 (Dec.1993): 573-86