Title
Some Indignities Persist
Creator
Description
"Man in blackface holds up dress against wooden fence background with text over printed in the form of an eye chart reading "Some Indignities Persist". Images of people in blackface have been a source of both disturbance and fascination to me. These images are intensely powerful in both their literal statements and in their ability to allow the viewer to create a context through the bias of their associations. Generations of African Americans have suffered grievous injury at the hands of people whose livelihood was derived from creating and reinforcing stereotypes through blackface minstrelsy. The creation of a stereotype was an essential element in maintaining white America's illusion of superiority. It characterized us as buffoons and tricksters, as inherently lazy and immoral and perennial children who were dependent on the paternalism of our "masters" for survival. Slavery, even the post emancipation more subliminal variety, was contingent on making its victims appear to be less than human. The images I've used are taken from late nineteenth century photographs of vaudeville and minstrel show performers. Ironically, blackface minstrelsy, through its wholesale appropriation of African American culture, is recognized as the "America;s first indigenous musical-theater genre." Manifestations exist to this day in everything from black stand-up comedy to the "crews" and "posses" of hip-hop. My work entreats the viewer to look at these images, while at the same time looking through them, to discover an alternate context. It is my hope that the work might offer a glimpse into the origins of some conscious or subconscious contemporary thinking with regard to race, color, and gender. If you are discomforted by what you see, I invite you to examine those feelings, for out of this examination will come enlightenment." Colors used: Rust/Beige, Off White, Dark Gray, and Gray Black.
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