Whitfield Lovell, Untitled (Woman), 2011.
Personal Histories
Jul 5 2014 – May 3 2015
Seattle Art Museum
Third Floor Galleries
Historical narratives tend to highlight key events in a nation’s history. The fate of a country’s leaders, wars won or lost, and other transformative national events are enshrined as “official” history, while the struggles and successes of minorities and less influential groups often remain forgotten or in the margins.
The artists in this installation–including Laylah Ali, William Cordova, Titus Kaphar, Whitfield Lovell, and Kara Walker–chart alternative narratives. All works in Personal Histories are drawn from SAM’s collections.
Untitled, 2011.
Whitfield Lovell’s works present nuanced portrayals of anonymous African-Americans by combining detailed drawings, based on old found photographs, with evocative vintage objects. Lovell, who was born in 1959 in the Bronx, regularly scours flea markets, antique stores and estate sales for his source material. The resulting arrangements suggest the fraught circumstances faced by many African-Americans at different points in U.S. history, while capturing a strong sense of personal dignity and inner strength.
Layla Ali, Brainiac
“In the earlier work, I was more interested in group dynamics, both within the group and between competing groups. Over time, I wanted to see how much could be indicated without explicit actions. How much could be read through the faces, clothes, and postures of the characters? So, I started working on portraits of these imaginary characters.”
Layla Ali, Untitled, 2004.