Dominic Pearson

Dominic Pearson earned a BA in Art History from Emory University and has worked for more than 20 years in the Arts, Entertainment and Culture. He will work with Dr. Saggese and is pursuing the MA in Art History with a concentration in African Diaspora Studies, which will enable him to galvanize his already interdisciplinary skill set, bring his network into academia, and better guide students towards the practical application of concepts that center Blackness in transnational contexts. Dominic is particularly interested in how multi-sensorial installations bring together visuality and sound to reflect the multidimensionality of Black Diasporic Identity. How do we hear and see Diaspora? What informs the way we listen to images and see sound? 

His research will explore the overlaps and divergences of visual art, sound, performance, and new media of the African Diaspora, examining artists such as Simphiwe Ndzube, Arthur Jafa, Sanford Biggers, Black Thought, Solange, and Swizz Beats–all of whom have either expanded their visual art practice to include music and sound or vice versa. In bridging visuality with sound, these artists have established new spaces of Black self-determination that have transformed the international art economy. These spaces intersect with issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality to push the boundaries of what Black images and their makers can be and do.