Centred on artistic practice, The Sphinx Contemplating Napoleon introduces readers to the thought, methods of depiction and lived experience that have emerged from an increasingly globalised world. Ideas of representation and cultural identity are crucial to this book and are explored through the prism of modern and recent art by the likes of Adel Abdessemed, Richard Avedon, Sonia Boyce and Frank Bowling, all of whose work invites the viewer to enter unfamiliar and at times disconcerting territory.
Having to navigate the realms of cultural, sexual or political difference has become especially challenging; fissures have arisen between the myth of cities and their rapidly changing realities; between the interpretation of a single image by different viewers and between words, images and memories that can be lost in translation from one cultural context to another.
With Gilane Tawadros' expert guidance the rich cultural and historical contexts of global and contemporary art are revealed to the reader through an intimate engagement with lived experience.