The Beaded Confinement by Luisa Kuschel

Body piece / OnBody Conceptual

Published: 20.10.2022

Body piece: The Beaded Confinement by Luisa Kuschel.Glass beads, PLA, iron, thread. 2021.Photo by: Ben FrikUnique piece.BA thesis 2021
. How were glass beads and photography used by the colonial men to legitimize their domination over Africa? And how did they manage to create a stereotype of isiZulu that is still present in our mindset today? As part of my bachelor thesis, I created a pearl-studded slave chain. It symbolizes the weight and the constraints of having a foreign identity imposed by economically motivated external powers. Our present is shaped by the past. We carry the history of previous generations within us. And so black people still feel the prejudices created by colonialism to this day. How can it be possible to finally break the slave chain?.

BA thesis 2021
How were glass beads and photography used by the colonial men to legitimize their domination over Africa? And how did they manage to create a stereotype of isiZulu that is still present in our mindset today? As part of my bachelor thesis, I created a pearl-studded slave chain. It symbolizes the weight and the constraints of having a foreign identity imposed by economically motivated external powers. Our present is shaped by the past. We carry the history of previous generations within us. And so black people still feel the prejudices created by colonialism to this day. How can it be possible to finally break the slave chain?