1. Please read uploaded files and watch a video<black art in the absence of light(HBO)<--I cannot upload this, so please read summary below.

-->summary of the video : Inspired by the late David Driskells landmark 1976 exhibition, Two Centuries of Black American Art, the documentary Black Art: In the Absence of Light offers an illuminating introduction to the work of some of the foremost Black visual artists working today.
Directed by Sam Pollard (Atlanta's Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children) the film shines a light on the extraordinary impact of Driskells exhibit on generations of Black artists who have staked a claim on their rightful place within the 21st-Century art world. Interweaving insights and context from scholars and historians, along with interviews from a new generation of working African American curators and artists including Theaster Gates, Kerry James Marshall, Faith Ringgold, Amy Sherald and Carrie Mae Weems, the documentary is a look at the Contributions of Black American artists in todays contemporary art world.
Black Art: In the Absence of Light is produced and directed by Sam Pollard; produced by Daphne McWilliams; cinematography, Henry Adebonojo; editing, Steven Wechsler; original music, Kathryn Bostic. Executive producers, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Jacqueline Glover; consulting producer, Thelma Golden.

2. And read this please:
As art critic and curator Maurice Berger observes in the documentary Black Art: In the Absence of Light, a survey of major museum collections in the United States found that only 1.2% of the artists represented are black.
The work of African American artists has long been marginalized within standard histories of art.  The centerpiece of this newly-released documentary is the groundbreaking exhibition Two Centuries of Black American Art curated for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 1976 by the late African American artist and scholar David Driskell. This pioneering show featured more than 200 artworks by 63 artists and foregrounded the significance of Black Art during the 19th and 20th centuries. Following an outpouring of critical attention in Los Angeles, the exhibition traveled to the Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Brooklyn Museum, thereby introducing audiences across the country to artworks that have largely been omitted from the art-historical canon. The film shines a light on the exhibitions extraordinary impact on generations of African American artists who have staked a claim on their rightful place within the 21st-century art world.
Some thirty years ago, Berger laid out the ways in which art institutions exclude and/or misrepresent the voices of African American artists. In his now-famous essay, Berger posed a series of important questions that are as relevant today as they were in 1990:
-Who are the patrons of art, the museum board members, the collectors?
-Who is the audience for high culture? 
-Who is allowed to interpret culture?
-Who is asked to make fundamental policy decisions?
-Who sets the priorities?
-Is the art world merely mirroring social changes or can art institutions actually play a role in challenging the conditions of institutional racism in America?
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<IMPORTANT overall INSTRUCTION>
Once you have watched the documentary "Black Art: In the Absence of Light" and completed the reading, please prepare a written response of approximately 500 words. Your response should take into consideration the questions posed by Berger (summarized above), along with the following additional questions:

-Are you aware of racial biases in art and art history?
-What type of history are these biases preserving?
-Is there a "black aesthetic"? If so, what is distinct about this aesthetic?

This assignment is about your response to the issues discussed in the article and the documentary, so you do not need to cite additional sources or include a bibliography. The questions are intended to be used as a prompt for your response; you do not need to answer every question directly. However, you do need to demonstrate that you watched the film by referring to the histories and opinions presented  AND your understanding of the article by referring to the Berger's arguments in your response. For example, you should refer to at least one of the artists or curators in the documentary, and you might then introduce one of the Berger's points in an article; you could then explain why you agree or disagree, or how you might offer an alternate point of view. When you include quotes or paraphrase an author's words, please be sure to acknowledge this in your response (ie. Berger, p. 9)