The video returns a few times to the motive of black motherhood. Apes**t is a celebration of African American achievement, but at the same time the video mocks the meaning of material wealth and symbolic distinction (also embraced by the Carters) in a world where black men and women are the daily victims of lethal racism. Yet, sometimes these bodies are alive and moving, sometimes they rather look like immobile corpses.Įvoking life and death, one of the first scenes of Apes**t shows Baroque and Renaissance angels decorating the ceilings of the Louvre, while outside the building a very human black angel is crouching on the ground. The Carters and the video’s black performers conquer a space that was not conceived to be occupied by black subjects. With their monumental bodies, filmed in low angle shots at one of Louvre’s marble staircases, the Carters and a group of black dancers wearing “nude” costumes dance in front of the marble sculpture The Winged Victory of Samothrace (190 BC). Beyoncé and Jay Z are the privileged viewers in this setting, a position confirmed in the lyrics of the song: “ I can’t believe we made it, This is what we’re thankful for.” In reality, no ordinary visitor to the Louvre can stand alone in front of this painting, always surrounded by crowds of hunger tourists pointing their smartphone cameras to capture the best image. The opening scene of Apes**t shows the Carters posing with one of the greatest icons of Western art, Leonardo da Vinci’s Monalisa (1503). Intentionally or not (it doesn’t matter), through the work of the video director, Beyoncé and Jay Z give a wink to the actions led by the movement Decolonize this Place. Appropriating the iconic western museum, the video is in dialogue with the acclaimed scene of Marvel’s film Black Panther, when Killmonger reclaims a Wakanda’s artifact on display in a fictive major western museum. Apes**ts‘svideo puts this system upside down. Obviously, still today black artists rarely have their works exhibited in the Louvre. Very few black subjects are portrayed in the paintings hang on the Louvre’s walls. Its walls only displayed the works of selected prominent artists. Upon its inception, its visitors were French elite members. The French Revolution swept the monarchy, spreading change across the Atlantic world.Ĭonceived to house French royal collections, the Louvre displayed paintings produced by European artists. This was also a troubling period in France’s history.
![jay z the dynasty archives jay z the dynasty archives](https://i0.wp.com/hypebeast.com/image/ht/2012/10/jay-z-nba-2k13-dynasty-trailer.png)
The Louvre Museum was created at the end of the eighteenth century during the summit of the Atlantic slave trade. The stage of Apes**twas carefully selected. Far from the United States, the Carters occupied the Louvre Museum, one of the most important art museums in the world and greatest symbol of high white culture, to address the persisting heritage of the Atlantic slave trade.
![jay z the dynasty archives jay z the dynasty archives](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0217/8832/products/jay-z_dynasty_1_47c3ed1c-c13d-4d6b-acb3-7849b4bd0bf6_600x600.jpg)
The song is part of the couple’s new joint album as the Carters. The video of the song Apes**t by Beyoncé and Jay Z revives the conversation about slavery and its legacies. This entry was posted in Article and tagged Art art history Beyonce French Revolution Haiti museums music slavery on Jby Ana Lucia Araujo (updated 1263 days ago)