African Diasporan Art

When one creates a picture, designs a portrait, shapes a sculpture, choreographs a dance, composes a song, writes a poem, or shares a story, there is a purpose beyond mere entertainment. The African Diasporan Aesthetic calls for art to be functional. In that functionality, the art derives its beauty. It is good and beautiful because it is useful. The dance becomes an expression of praise, and the sculpture is used to bring good luck and fortune to one who is expecting a child. The song tells the history of a people, and the story reinforces that particular group's cultural traits. Art in the African Disaporan Aesthetic is not for observation, but for use. This is evident in traditional and modern African visual art; it is evident in the paintings of Cubans, Dominicans, and African Americans; it is evident in the dances of East and West Africans, Jamaicans, Haitians, and Barbadians. this is evident in the works of the Harlem Renaissance and the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s.