To tell progressive stories about Western art, grand narratives were constructed. This course examines the key grand narratives of Western art (including perspective, the Classical canon, landscape and the nude) in the context Non-Western art, which was either excluded or misrepresented as uncivilised, regressive and barbaric. This course will examine how these grand narratives were constructed and how they may be deconstructed through revealing their exclusions and denials, particularly in relation to issues of race, sex and power.

The course will explore how art and other visual cultures reinforced or challenged totalitarianism, geopolitics, industrial capitalism, nationism, surveillance, the nuclear family and sexual normalization. Drawing upon interdisciplinary models provided by Michel Foucault, Edward Said, amongst others, it will explore how to rewrite and reimage narratives of art and visual culture. It will also consider why such revisionism remains so contentious, as illustrated by the 'history wars' that continue to rage today.