Untitled
Date2019
MediumDistressed Jacquard tapestry
Dimensions156 × 108 inches (396.2 × 274.3 cm)
Credit LineMuseum purchase with funds provided by the Jack W. Lindsay Acquisition Endowment Fund.
Object number2020.20
Copyright© 2019, Noel W Anderson.
The images and text contained on this page are owned by Telfair Museums or used by the Museum with permission from the owners. Unauthorized reproduction, transmission or display of these materials is prohibited with the exception of items deemed “fair use” as defined by U.S. and international copyright laws.Label TextNoel W Anderson utilizes print-media and arts-based research to explore philosophical inquiries of identity formation. He primarily focuses on the mediation of sourced historical and contemporary images from what he terms the “black archive,” especially as those materials relate to black masculinity.
Like many of the artists in this exhibition, Anderson uses art to respond to and challenge the political, social, and cultural power structures of his times. This untitled work appropriates a 1970 photograph of members of the New Orleans Black Panther Party held up against a chain link fence and surrounded by law enforcement. Anderson seeks to draw connections between this historical moment and recent acts of police brutality against black Americans. Anderson reprocesses the original image through distortion― digitally altering the picture before having it woven, distressing the fabric, and hanging it. The drape of the tapestry cloaks parts of the image, physically and metaphorically denying easy comprehension of what the viewer sees―emphasizing the lack of access to and understanding of the complexity of black existence and identity. The use of the Jacquard loom, a precursor to modern computer technology invented in the early 19th century, takes control of a tool traditionally reserved for wealthy elites to reclaim and locate black materialism and representation in the past and present.
Text written for the exhibition Complex Uncertainties: Artists in Postwar America, October 24, 2020 – May 3, 2021.
