Black women hardly appear in art history and therefore in major museum collections. And if so, then as servants or in a “decorative” function. Alabaster-colored graces like Botticelli’s Birth of Venus are considered the apparent ideal type of woman. Behind this there is not only a male gaze, but also a colonial one. The American author Robin Coste Lewis wrote about it in her book Voyage of the Sable Venus and Other Poems (2015) wrote a poetic essay, translated it is called The Voyage of Black Venus. He is now at the center of a premiere at the Vienna Festival, presented by Alice Diop.
