Aspiration, Imagination, and Praxis: Artists Reconstructing the Leftist Political Imaginary (opens in new tab)

Drawing on the experience of a Chinese artist under the pseudonym ‘A’, this essay examines how leftist artists strive to reconstruct their political imaginary in this uncertain time. Central to A’s recent work is a dual impulse: first, the practice of international solidarity; second, a critical effort to decolonise the dominant political imaginaries within contemporary art. The essay argues that the legacies of grassroots Third World internationalism provide crucial intellectual resources th...