Blown Out Black Mama's Belly
Lonnie Holley
American, born 1950
Details
Title
Blown Out Black Mama's Belly
Artist/Maker
Lonnie Holley (American, born 1950)
Date
1994
Medium
Rubber inner tube, cloth, wire coat hanger
Dimensions
84 x 22 x 4 inches
Credit
T. Marshall Hahn Collection
Accession #
1996.40
Lonnie Holley transforms cast-off materials into art with a purpose. This assemblage of a stretched inner tube and scraps of cloth is the artist’s tribute to his mother, who bore many children. The ligatures on the lower portion represent the tied-off umbilical cords of her babies and, by extension, the children of the world. The accreted meanings in Holley's assemblages urge the viewer to think about the relationship between past and present, the duality of matter and spirit, and the cycle of life and death.
Image Copyright
© (c) Lonnie Holley/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York