This project combines a traditional long form written dissertation on contemporary diasporic art from Germany, Ghana and Detroit with an online exhibition showcasing this art. Through analysis and curation of artworks of eight contemporary artists across the Atlantic this project has two main goals. First, it strives to better understand the multifaceted realities of diasporic people today. Second, it ultimately argues that the work of these artists can help readers and viewers glimpse a world beyond the dehumanizing worldviews embedded by colonialism. Using the lens of decolonial theory, this project explores three themes that link the artworks: visions of the future, representation, and places of belonging. Each chapter and gallery puts artists from Europe and Africa in conversation with artists from Detroit. Chapter/Gallery One takes the work of Theo Eshetu and Matthew Angelo Harrison to analyze how both artists use West African sculptures to help explore the idea of a world beyond and without Europe's exploitation of Africa and its people. Chapter/Gallery Two takes works from Eva Leitolf, Amoako Boafo and Conrad Egyir to focus on how representation can be either a tool of state oppression or a tool for emancipatory, limitless representation. Chapter/Gallery Three centers around the work of Zohra Opoku, Emeka Ogboh and Tiff Massey to reflect on ideas of home for those whose lives are affected by diaspora. The fourth written chapter and the virtual galleries themselves are informed by museum work and curation that aims to center artists and viewers, instead of exhibitions built around the vision of a singular curator. This hybrid, interdisciplinary project also contributes to the growing body of work in German Studies that pulls from multiple disciplines to better understand the realities of minoritized people in the German-speaking world. Taken together, these two branches of the project offer a model for how the Humanities today℗ can be critical and imaginative tools for scholars and non-scholars to sit with visions of our world where the legacy of colonialism loses its power.℗
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