Ina Wudtke

Griot Girlz.

Feminist Art and the Black Atlantic

Ina Wudtke worked as an artist and curator on the realization of the exhibition Griot Girlz at Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen. In it she proposes the term “Griot Girlz” in response to the term “Riot grrrl” which, in the art field, refers to feminist art in a rock and punk context.

While “Griot Girlz” also stands for feminist art, it does so specifically in the context of music with African roots (hip hop, jazz, dubstep, etc.) The term “Griot” refers to people in oral African cultures who preserve and hand down their tribal history. “Griot Girlz” often—but not exclusively—tell stories using mnemonic techniques such as rhyme or rap. The exhibition presented art dealing with the musical tradition of the Black Atlantic diaspora. Essential to this is an understanding of a particular beat as a complex avant-garde in the art context—recalling the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, a prominent example of black Atlantic modernity—with the invention of syncopated swing rhythms.

The exhibition featured contemporary artists who understand the “Black Sound” (hip-hop, jazz, etc.) not only as an authentic Afro-Atlantic culture, but also as a global language of their generation.
(Text source: Ina Wudtke)

Ina Wudtke presented her work and working methods at Julia Prager’s seminar Gender Studies at the Institute of Languages and Literatures, Department of Comparative Literature, University of Innsbruck.