Decolonising Responses to ‘Engaged Art’: Disposability and Neoimperialism in Art, Activism and Academia

Abstract

This article examines the limits of ‘engaged art’ via two case studies: Vik Muniz's photoseries Pictures of Garbage (2008, Brazil) and Alejandro Cartagena's photoseries Carpoolers (2011–2012, Mexico). Both highlight an ongoing need to decolonise the process of narrative creation and the scholarship/viewership that responds to this form of art. By exploring the different issues that arise when considering ‘engaged art’ alongside the urgent need to decolonise scholarly approaches to such works, the authors consider the literal and metaphorical toxicity of neoliberal societies, and the academic and media discourses analysing art produced in this context.