Representing the Black Experience Through Sculpture

05/10/2022 7 min
Representing the Black Experience Through Sculpture

Listen "Representing the Black Experience Through Sculpture"

Episode Synopsis

While at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I came across an exhibit I was not expecting called Why Born Enslaved. It's a single sculpture by artist Jean Baptist-Carpeaux. He created this sculpture after emancipation in America and 20 years after slavery had been abolished in France as well. The sculpture is beautiful and it's also a reminder that this woman was depicted as a slave in what could be considered an example of a white man's vision of a woman in bondage. It's a good reminder that context is always a part of the artist's vision. For more on that topic, check out two great podcast conversations: How to Be an Anti-Racist Artist and  Poverty Mindset, both with artist Erica Courdae.