Erica N. Cardwell’s book Wrong is Not My Name dissects how Black women construct inquisitive, alternative, queer, and “hysterical” lives in art and visual culture. Experimental in form, the essays that comprise this book probe the poetics of criticism, bearing in mind familiar images of Black women as the lascivious Jezebel, the caretaking Mammy, and the elusive, rage-filled Sapphire, constellating their appearance with writing about interdisciplinary performance works and invented personas. Cardwell’s book weaves in interviews and other materials that transit between diasporic locals and generations. Wrong is Not My Name is rooted in the belief that Cardwell’s late mother was an artist and that the actualization of Cardwell’s creative life is an inherited inquiry. She includes the experiences of students, artists, and teachers of color to think critically about how they have been conditioned to question themselves.
Erica N. Cardwell is a writer and educator based in Brooklyn and Toronto. Her book project, Wrong is Not My Name: Essays and Stories on Black Feminist Visual Culture, will be published by the Feminist Press in 2023. Cardwell centers Black feminist theory as her primary critical approach; she often writes about print- and paper-making practices, archival media, and interdisciplinary performance. She is deeply fascinated with the imaginations of people of color as a tool for social, spiritual, and collective movement. Cardwell’s writing has appeared or is forthcoming in BOMB, The Believer, The Brooklyn Rail, Cultured, Artsy, frieze, Hyperallergic, C Magazine, Art in America, and other publications. She has been awarded residencies and fellowships from Lambda Literary, Vermont Studio Center, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and Queer Art Mentorship. Cardwell has taught writing and social justice at CUNY and The New School. She received her MFA in Writing from Sarah Lawrence College.