Art on My Mind by Bell Hooks (30th anniversary edition ARC review): Social Commentary on Black Arts and Politics 4🌟

First of all i would like to thank The New Press for the ARC¿ (kinda ARC¿) Since upon researching there's already a book named 'Art on My Mind' also by bell hooks published in 1995 aaaaaaaand this is the 30th anniversary edition :) with the original text and essays being preserved with no additional apparatus or annotations (or so I've researched). Just an additional new commissioned foreword/introduction by Mickalene Thomas, so this review will only focus on the new media being released.


Cover: One that stood outs is the updated design and the cover, which consists of bell hooks in 8 beautiful photographs, my only criticism is the font present on the name and the title, it is rather odd that the text present on the photographs have this nostalgic handwriting vibe going on whilst the title, the author name, and the "Visual Politics" have this simplistic, modern, and linear vibe, which is strange because in a contrasting perspective, the photographs have much more emphasis while the infos are left on the top and bottom sides.


The Introduction by Mickalene Thomas: The introduction is a well thought out commentary on the empowerment and influence that bell hooks did on the future of people of color and the legacy of the art created to convey messages from the mind. It has many insights on the commercialization and the way complex art has been reduced to small products and the impact of visual politics through art, plus with the emergence of the internet when art can be more accessible, representations are more expressed through different mediums.


Typography and Illustrations: Well i think i'm going a little bit too far fetched if i'm even going to comment on the typography 😭, but still, the formatting and the fonts are gentle for the eyes and the more enhance illustrations give the work more depth and leverage to the messages it tries to convey (and did well).


In conclusion this is a well written and well organized and packaged work of essay collection and truly brings back the original for the 30 years it has been on print, quite an admirable 30th anniversary edition 🫢.




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