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Afro-Atlantic Histories Audio Tour

  • Stop 950

    Introduction
    More information and transcript

  • Stop 951

    We see a photograph of two mirrors on the wall they are in the shape of continents. North America is on top and Africa is below

    stainless steel with mirrored finish
    National Gallery of Art, Washington, Firestone Contemporary Art Acquisition Fund

    A Place to Call Home (Africa America Reflection), 2020
    More information and transcript

  • Stop 952

    A man and a woman with black skin stand in a sage and olive-green boat that comes toward us on a wavy, dripping band of cobalt blue that spans the lower edge of this loosely hanging, square canvas. The word “WANDERER” is written in white capital letters along the bow of the boat. Closer to us, in the boat, a woman is seen from the hips up. An oval, cloud-like form covers her torso, shoulders, and the area behind her head. It is white with rose-pink swirls, and has a few black lines creating scallops around the edge. A black shape at her waist, just over a cobalt-blue skirt, could indicate that at least one arm is bent behind her back. The penis, thighs, and knees of a man are seen between the boat and the triangular, pale lilac-purple sail. The sail is painted with long, curling strokes of violet purple up its center. A long, white pennant with two gold stars flutters from the boat’s burgundy-red mast, which has a crosspiece just below the pennant. The water is painted with strokes of royal blue, which partially drip over a white skull at the lower center. The boat is set against a background layered in washes of white, shell pink, and baby blue, with swirls and thin strokes of brick red scattered across it. A yellow sun outlined in deeper gold peeks above the horizon in the lower left, and is repeated with more orbs that together make an arc that curves to the upper right corner. A few geometric line drawings hover next to the woman, on our left, such as a compass-like cross with a crosshatched oval at each end. A black number "1" floats in the lower left, above the water, and a black number "7" floats near the upper left. Two more black sevens float near the upper right, next to another heart-shaped line drawing. The background transitions from the pale washes to darker orbs of pink and blue, that overlap a band of black that nearly spans the top edge. In that upper zone, a black, gold, and red compass floats near the top of the mast, to our left. A sheet with anatomical illustrations hangs from the left arm of the mast. The drawings show cell clusters and human fetuses, some circled in red. A second drawing of a house circled in lilac purple hangs on the right arm, next to a third drawing of concentric circles.

    acrylic and collage on canvas
    National Gallery of Art, Washington, Corcoran Collection (Gift of the Women’s Committee of the Corcoran Gallery of Art)

    © Kerry James Marshall

    Voyager, 1992
    West Building, Main Floor — Gallery 60-B
    More information and transcript

  • Stop 953

    Three pieces of fabric overlaid on each other and hanging from the wall. The top piece has dots on it

    metal tags on charcoal jute sacks on smock textile on charcoal jute sacks
    Courtesy of the Artist and White Cube Gallery

    Audio courtesy of the artist and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago

    AKOSUA SOM BI, 2014, 2019
    More information and transcript

  • Stop 955

    A man stands looking to our right. He has a metal collar around his neck with microphones attached

    watercolor and pencil
    Private Collection, São Paulo

    Neck Leash (Who Shall Speak on Our Behalf?), 2014
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  • Stop 956

    A Black woman stands on a box on a city street and stares into the camera. She is not clothed

    archival pigment print
    Artist Collection

    © Nona Faustine
    Audio courtesy of the artist and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

    From Her Body Sprang Their Greatest Wealth, from the series White Shoes, 2013
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  • Stop 957

    This is a dark painting of a crowded scene. A White man stands next to a Black woman on a podium at the center of the scene

    oil on canvas
    Courtesy of Missouri Historical Society, St. Louis
     

    The Last Sale of Slaves in St. Louis, Missouri, c. 1880
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  • Stop 958

    We see a view as if on a hill in this painting. There is a small crowd at the center of the painting and palms on either side

    oil on woodboard
    Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Gift of Antenor Rezende, 1951

    Landscape with Anteater, c. 1660
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  • Stop 959

    Three women stand talking to each other. The two on the left have their hand on their hip. The one on the right has her arms crossed

    oil on canvas
    National Gallery of Jamaica, Kingston

    © Estate of Barrington Watson
     

    Conversation, 1981
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  • Stop 960

    Carved wood figure resembling a torso on the bottom and an axe at top

    wood
    Museu Afro Brasil, São Paulo

    Oxê of Shango—Orisha’s Tool, 19th century
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  • Stop 961

    This is a photograph of a brightly beaded object. It stands upright with two handles on either side

     

    painted leather, fabric, shells and beads on palm tree vein
    Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Gift of Ana Dale, Carlos Dale Junior, Antonio Almeida, Thais Darzé, and Paulo Darzé, in the context of the Afro-Atlantic Histories exhibition, 2018
     

    Sasara Ati Aso Ailo, 1960, Ope Olodo Ejo—River Serpent Palm, undated
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  • Stop 962

    This is a photograph of an upright stone tablet. The word Laveau is inscrbed in the stone

    wood and mixed media
    The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of The Barrett Collection, Dallas, Texas, 2003.97

    Photograph © The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Photographer: Thomas R. DuBrock

    Headstone for Marie Laveau, 1990
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  • Stop 963

    A painting of a Black man against a green canvas. His nose is light and there is a grey band around his shoulders and chest

    oil on canvas
    Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand, Gift of the artist, in the context of the Afro-Atlantic Histories exhibition, 2018

    © Dalton Paula

    Zeferina, João de Deus Nascimento, 2018
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  • Stop 965

    A Black woman in black dress and a black hat looks up above the viewer. The whites of her eyes stand out in contrast

    photographic wall mural from digital file
    National Gallery of Art, Washington, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund

    © Zanele Muholi. Courtesy of the artist, Yancey Richardson, New York, and Stevenson Cape Town / Johannesburg
    Audio courtesy Art21

    Ntozakhe II, (Parktown), 2016
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  • Stop 966

    This is a photograph of a brightly colored quilt. The predominant colors are red, yellow, black and white

    textile
    Collection of the artist

    Black Resistance Organizations—Ilê Aiyê, 1995
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  • Stop 967

    This is a painting of a Black woman bending down on the floor with a broom in her right hand. cut out of the painting is the shape of a child allowing us to see the white wall behind in a child like shape

    oil on canvas
    Courtesy of Nick Cave

    Audio © John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation—used with permission

    Space to Forget, 2014
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  • Stop 968

    This is a brightly colored quilt with the phrase "Who's afraid of Aunt Jemima?" in the center. There are multiple people in the panels

    acrylic on canvas, dyed, painted, and pieced textile
    Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland

    Audio courtesy of Glenstone Museum, Potomac, Maryland

    Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima?, 1983
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  • Stop 969

    This is a photograph of a sculpture. It's a person like form with a drum for a head and a stick arm with a glove that covers the face. The figure is draped in fabrics

    mirrors, concrete blocks, cement bag, sledgehammer, construction stones bag, paint bucket, wood panels, palm tree trunk, burlap, leather, ropes, sequin, awning, plastic ropes, fabric, trumpet, pins, duct tape, maracas, sneaker, tambourine, working gloves, boxing gloves, acrylic
    National Gallery of Art, Washington, New Century Fund

    With thanks to GFR Media, Puerto Rico

    Power Figure, 2016-2020
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