The Racialization of Black Peoples in Ancient Mediterranean Art: Two Case Studies from London and Los Angeles (20 min)

Presenters

Paula Gaither, Stanford University

Abstract

There is no consistent terminology applied to representations of Black people in Greek or Roman Art and, by othering Black Africans in displays, museums perpetuate the idea that Black people were not part of a larger world. Museums with Greek and Roman art collections often label these figures as B/black, African, Black African, A/Ethiopian, or Negro. While there have been attempts to address this disparity, there is no consensus. This paper will examine the labeling and display of two objects with ancient theatrical representations in two museums—a terracotta mask in the British Museum in London and a Gnathian situla in the Getty Villa in Los Angeles—to understand how curatorial choices construct a racialized image of the ancient Mediterranean. Through a contextualized analysis, I argue that museums build images of Mediterranean antiquity that reproduce contemporary perceptions of race and occlude their ancient meanings. I propose museums can acknowledge their role in constructing forms of identity, historically connected to colonial and nationalist projects, through world-building. In this approach, museums cultivate alternative worlds, displayed side-by-side, for a richer understanding of the diversity of antiquity.