2019.44
Kin XLVI (Follie)
Artist
Whitfield Lovell
(The Bronx, New York, NY, 1959 – )
Title
Kin XLVI (Follie)
Creation Date
2011
Century
early 21st century
Dimensions
30 x 22 1/4 x 2 in. (76.2 x 56.52 x 5.08 cm)
Object Type
mixed media
Creation Place
North America, United States
Medium and Support
Conte crayon drawing on paper, 3-D shooting gallery target
Credit Line
Museum Purchase, Greenacres Acquisition Fund and Collectors Collaborative
Copyright
This artwork may be under copyright. For further information, please consult the Museum’s
Copyright Terms and Conditions.
Accession Number
2019.44
The lives of many Black women will never be known because their histories have been disregarded both by scholars and mainstream American society. How, then, might one recover these hidden histories? Whitfield Lovell combines conté crayon drawings and found objects to revitalize lost histories in his Kin series. In Kin XLVI, Lovell pairs an object used for target practice with a drawing of a Black woman in profile. This juxtaposition suggests a narrative about the anonymous sitter, drawing inspiration from images Lovell collected from the period between the Emancipation Proclamation and the Civil Rights Movement. As Lovell puts it, he aims to “illuminate the humanity and richness of these ordinary people.” In the composition presented here, the woman’s profile is paired with a shooting gallery target, prompting one to consider the history of violence on the Black body and issues of domestic violence toward women.