Barkley L. Hendricks’s (1945-2017) portraiture is considered in relation to camp’s liminal nature. Hendricks employs the camp techniques of surface emphasis, and affective audience engagement, to relay a political message of black agency. His portraiture is framed with dynamics of MFSB, a popular culture movement developed in his hometown, Philadelphia, during the era of the 1970s. The paper brings to light Hendricks’s participation within the complex histories of imaging the black body. His participation defies the hegemonies inherent within these histories and, at the same time, reifies them.
New Article: Love is the Message: Barkley Hendricks’s MFSB Portrait Aesthetics

Genevieve Hyacinthe
Abstract
Featured Image Credits: Barkley L. Family Jules: NNN (No Naked Niggahs) (1974). Oil on Linen, 72 x 66 inches. ©Estate of Barkley L. Hendricks. Courtesy of Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Izabella Penier (April 21, 2018). New Article: Love is the Message: Barkley Hendricks’s MFSB Portrait Aesthetics. Open Culture. Retrieved March 23, 2025 from https://doi.org/10.58079/shpw