Tobacco Demon
Alison Saar
American, born 1956

Details
Title
Tobacco Demon
Artist/Maker
Alison Saar (American, born 1956)
Date
1993
Medium
Ceiling tin, found objects, and shellac on wood
Dimensions
78 1/4 x 25 1/4 x 14 inches
Credit
Purchase through funds provided by AT&T New Art/ New Visions and 20th-Century Art Acquisition Fund
Accession #
1993.17 a-b
As an apprentice in her father’s restoration studio, Alison Saar gained first hand knowledge of ancient Chinese, African, Egyptian, and pre Columbian objects. Her art reflects an assimilation of these varied sources. Tobacco Demon, otherwise known as an “agridemon,” symbolizes the depletion of the soil by plantation farming of cotton and tobacco as well as the painful history of slavery, which made these plantations possible. Tobacco Demon is based on the character of Baron Samedi, the ruler of zombies in Haitian Voudoun folklore. Saar dresses him in a tobacco leaf suit, symbolically linking the legacy of slavery with modern-day drug lords.
Image Copyright
© Alison Saar