Double Negative
Lorna Simpson
American, born 1960

Details
Title
Double Negative
Artist/Maker
Lorna Simpson (American, born 1960)
Date
1990
Medium
Dye diffusion transfer prints
Dimensions
23 7/8 x 19 5/8 inches
Credit
Purchase with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and Edith G. and Philip A. Rhodes
Accession #
1990.69 a-g
On View
Currently not on view
Conceptual artist Lorna Simpson’s work derives its gut-punching power from the evocative, allusive, and deeply unsettling combination of words and images. Here, four stacked photographs of a braided hair piece are accompanied by text panels that slide down from “not” to “noose,” along the way invoking related words (including “knot”) to effect a devastating slippage between the loop of the hair and the loop of a noose. The title "Double Negative" refers not only to the repeated negative phrases (“not”) but also to the double and entwined burdens of racism and sexism that Black women endure.
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