Black and Gold

For centuries, Africa has been the center of global trade in gold. Synonymous with wealth and power in African cultures, the precious metal was also central to the emergence of Europe’s colonial empires and the contemporary world made in its wake. Black and gold have thus always been conjoined, and yet long set in opposition: Blackness as negation, gold as universal standard of value. Black & Gold is a genealogy of this seeming contradiction—a global history of value told through episodes of Black creative practice.

Featuring the work of acclaimed contemporary artists such as Yinka Shonibare, Theaster Gates, Wangechi Mutu, El Anatsui, Chris Ofili, and Kerry James Marshall, this book unearths a series of historical and ecological connections—the mining of gold on the continent and its relationship to the diaspora; “Black gold” as a colloquialism for oil; and Blackness as a form of cultural “gold.” By bringing early modern histories of alchemy, art, and colonial contact into the present, W. Ian Bourland tells a multifaceted story about the fetishization of gold, driven by an impulse to extract Blackness and refine people and matter into ever greater forms of abstraction with devastating consequences for the environment and humanity.

In simplest terms, Black & Gold reconsiders the material and symbolic life of gold and the Black labor that has always sustained it. It will resonate with art critics and scholars, museumgoers and collectors, and anyone interested in modern and contemporary art, the Black Atlantic, and global histories of empire and culture.

“With Black and Gold, Bourland has delivered a most fascinating and provocative work of scholarship. This is a probing, deeply nuanced, and reassuringly thoughtful reflection that deepens our understandings of the practices of several artists of the African Diaspora. The practices of these artists are read against the violent and brutal histories of exploitation and extraction, particularly those relating to gold, a precious metal that continues to fascinate and dominate the world, both culturally and economically. With this book, Bourland underlines his credentials as a leading scholar whose work is engaged and engaging.”—Eddie Chambers, author of World Is Africa: Writings on Diaspora Art

W. Ian Bourland is a cultural critic and historian who writes widely on art, photography, film, and music. He is Provost’s Distinguished Associate Professor at Georgetown University and author of Bloodflowers: Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Photography, and the 1980s and Massive Attack’s Blue Lines.

African American Studies

Art History & Architecture

           Early Modern

           Modern and Contemporary

           Art Theory & Criticism

Critical Race Studies

Africana Studies