Visualizing Rituals: Critical Analysis of Art and Ritual Practice

Diverse aspects of art-from its inception to its eventual display-have continuously been connected to rituals and vice versa, whether formally or informally. As the field of critical theory has expanded over the past several decades, becoming increasingly relevant to art historical discourse, new methods of understanding art in relation to the individual and society have played a significant role in the conceptualization of ritual practices. In addition, psychoanalytic theories of identity formation as well as ideas of the fragmented, post-modern subject have opened up new avenues for considering the role of rituals in modern society. Thus, the relationship between art and ritual is wide and varied and has become a dynamic field of critical inquiry. The essays presented in this compilation examine various ways in which emerging scholars are negotiating the relationship between art and ritual. Drawing from numerous aspects of art historical, anthropological and theoretical discourses, the papers seek to address some of the questions that arise from these complex relationships and open up the possibility for new ways of defining both art and ritual. The essays range in scope from the architectural forms of temples from Ancient Greece to the ritualistic return to blackness in the art of Kahinde Wiley. Visualizing Rituals is a crucial project that creatively develops new ways of navigating the nexus between art and ritual practices.