ABSTRACT
When asked, “What defines a beautiful puppet,” most puppet artists respond, “It moves well in performance.” Yet puppetry also attracts visual artists who have built reputations on exhibiting static artifacts. Since African art was traditionally inseparable from contexts in which it was danced, object performance offers African American visual artists an opportunity to reclaim an aesthetic that valued art in motion. This chapter reviews the work of Ashley Bryan, Faith Ringgold, Nick Cave, and Kara Walker who have created and performed with performing objects as part of their visual art practice.
