Real Girl - High Museum of Art

Real Girl

Nellie Mae Rowe

American, 1900–1982

A large heart houses a photo of Nellie Mae Rowe and the text “Real Girl” and “Peace God”; a crayon-drawn magenta, yellow, and brown frame surrounds the heart.

Details

Title

Real Girl

Artist/Maker

Nellie Mae Rowe (American, 1900–1982)

Date

1980

Medium

Color photograph, crayon, pen, and pencil on cardboard

Dimensions

14 x 11 inches

Credit

Gift of Judith Alexander

Accession #

2003.212

Location

Currently not on view

Real Girl is one of at least a dozen drawings in which Rowe embedded a picture of herself, embracing various visible dimensions of her identity and their intersections. As she told one reporter in 1979, “I am black and I love my blackness.” Here, she has placed her signature at the literal heart of her composition under an image of herself in front of her home holding a doll. She asserts that she is a “real girl” and uses traditionally feminine forms like the color bright pink, lacy edges, flowers, and the heart arabesque to complete this valentine to herself.

Image Copyright

© Estate of Nellie Mae Rowe/High Museum of Art, Atlanta.

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