| Maker(s): | Ward, Nari
| | Culture: | American, born Jamiaca (1963-)
| | Title: | Lorraine from the Exit Art portfolio Exit 99
| | Date Made: | 1999
| | Type: | Print; Photograph
| | Materials: | Screen printing, thermography and photography on Somerset velvet 300g, business card and photograph, Three colors screen printed, Two color thermography
| | Measurements: | Mat: 36 in x 28 in; 91.4 cm x 71.1 cm; Sheet: 28 in x 21 7/8 in; 71.1 cm x 55.6 cm; Image: 27 1/2 in x 20 7/8 in; 69.8 cm x 53 cm
| | Accession Number: | UM 2012.6.1.4
| | Credit Line: | Gift of Exit Art, New York
| | Museum Collection: | University Museum of Contemporary Art at UMASS Amherst
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Label Text:
Excerpted label text from the Curatorial Fellowship exhibition “Eyes Are For Asking: Narratives in Photography,” March 24 – May 1, 2016:
Nari Ward’s work often focuses on issues of race, poverty, and consumerism. Here, Ward combines screen printing, photography and thermography (a printing method that uses heat to create an image) to tell the story of Lorraine, a woman who was once represented on a Jamaican bank note. Her face became a sort of icon for the country as it appeared, surrounded by her family, on its currency. Ward constructs the woman’s story with great economy. A small business card for a Bargain World dollar store is placed atop a more recent photograph of Lorraine. Lorraine is pictured behind a counter, presumably working with cash in a very different manner, suggesting that she has little benefited from her fame. Surrounded by the currency of the U.S. and Jamaica, her gaze seeks ours directly. In this photograph, time has stopped and Lorraine’s multiple representations seem bound in this frame, frozen in time. Temporality is suggested through the image of Lorraine and her connection to the past, but the motif of currency that surrounds her suggests the way capitalism frames our encounters in an eternal present of potential exchange. -Gretchen Halverson (M.A. Art History ‘16) and Procheta Mukherjee Olson (M.F.A. Studio Art ‘17)
Nari Ward’s combination of screen-printing, thermography and photography presents the story of Lorraine, a woman was once used as an iconographic image on Jamaican bank notes and now works at Bargain World dollar store. Ward’s works are often composed of found objects from his neighborhood and raise issues related to consumer culture, poverty, and race.
Tags:
activists; African American; civil rights; money; politicians; women; text; social commentary; patterns Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=UM+2012.6.1.4 |
