Undertone #57, #48, #59
Myra Greene
American, born 1975
Details
Title
Undertone #57, #48, #59
Artist/Maker
Myra Greene (American, born 1975)
Date
2017– 2018
Medium
Stained glass ambrotype
Dimensions
Contact the museum for more information.
Credit
Purchase with funds from the Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Foundation, Charles Jing, and and Alan and Jewett Rothschild
Accession #
2021.313
On View
Currently not on view
Atlanta-based artist and professor Myra Greene explores race, identity, and history and frequently uses her body in her multimedia practice. In this work from her Undertone series, she explores the perception of color as an analogue for race. To make this piece, she used the ambrotype process, in which light-sensitive chemicals are poured onto a sheet of glass, then exposed in a camera and usually placed against a dark backing so that the negative image appears positive. Greene, however, made her negatives directly onto sheets of glass tinted with colors extracted from the hues of varying shades of dark skin. The work, which changes according to light, viewing angle, and context, suggests the instability and illegibility of socially constructed categories of color, skin tone, and race.
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