Abstract:
In literature and linguistics, irony has been studied extensively; however, this is curiously not the case in the visual arts. This thesis attempts to transpose the largely textual conceptualisation of irony into a more holistic understanding that accommodates its enunciation in the visual realm. It expands on the literary origins of irony by exploring its Duchampian emergence with the introduction of the readymade and proceeds to trace irony’s trajectory across art historical movements such as Surrealism and postmodernism. On delineating the broader contexts of its usage in the visual arts, the thesis focuses specifically on the critical role of irony in contemporary artistic practices as a powerful mechanism that subverts the legacies of colonialism. Cultural imperialist, European and American narratives that expand power by erasing or marginalising others have been subjected to forms of irony by many contemporary artists. This thesis examines irony as a subversive tactic in the works of Black British, African-American, Indian, Samoan-Japanese, Cuban-American and Chicano contemporary artists that express a critical disposition toward Eurocentric narratives, racism, systemic violence, gender inequality, epistemic oppression and other enduring effects of colonisation. Tracing the stimuli of contemporary art’s ironic anti-colonial practices, I contend that they have been largely informed by postcolonial and decolonial literature and influenced by postmodern subversive practices, culminating in the rebellious flavour of resistance we encounter in the postcolonial artist.