Starting from Stuart Hall’s notion that «art is a way of thinking», the article concentrates on the centrality of visuality in his theory of representation – namely of gender and ethnic identities. It explores the mutual relation of inspiration between Hall the diasporic theorist of ethnicity and several generations of diasporic artists, especially video artists and photographers. Special attention is given to John Akomfrah’s filmic work: to his The Nine Muses which powerfully and poetically sings the drama of the Windrush generation, and The Stuart Hall Project which is both about Hall and deeply structured by the cultural studies rational.