Remembering, Resisting, Reclaiming

Artworks

• Punição de Escravos by Jacques Étienne Arago (1830) — This artwork is significant because Arago combines a detailed and realistic depiction of punishment with careful composition to make the viewer focus on the enslaved person at the center of the scene. The figures surrounding the punishment create tension and emphasize the unequal power relationship between the enslaved people and those enforcing the punishment. Since Arago was documenting scenes he observed while traveling in Brazil, the lithograph also serves as a visual record of a society where slavery was legally accepted and enforced through violence. Rather than showing slavery as an abstract historical issue, the artwork presents a specific moment of punishment that reveals how control was maintained within the system. The combination of realistic detail, composition, and historical context makes the image an important document of the experiences of enslaved Black people in nineteenth-century Brazil.
• The Problem We All Live With by Norman Rockwell (1964) — This artwork is significant because Rockwell uses composition and symbolism to focus attention on Ruby Bridges and the challenges she faced. By placing her at the center of the painting and dressing her in white, he emphasizes her innocence while contrasting her with the racist graffiti and smashed tomato behind her. The decision to crop the federal marshals so that only parts of their bodies are visible keeps the viewer's attention on Ruby rather than the authority figures surrounding her. Created during the Civil Rights Movement, the painting reflects the tensions of school desegregation while documenting a real historical event. Through these visual choices, Rockwell presents Ruby not as a larger-than-life hero but as a young girl confronting racism, which helps viewers understand both the hostility she faced and the courage required to continue walking into that school.
• Flipside by Lorna Simpson (1989) — This artwork is significant because Simpson uses two nearly identical photographs and deliberately hides the subject's face, which challenges the way portraits are usually meant to reveal a person's identity. The repetition and symmetry encourage viewers to look closely, but the limited visual information prevents them from making easy assumptions about the subject. The black-and-white photographs create a serious tone, while the accompanying text adds another layer of interpretation without providing a complete explanation. Created during a period when many artists were questioning traditional representations of race and gender, the work reflects Simpson's interest in how identity is constructed and understood. By showing only the back of the woman's head and neck, the artwork draws attention to what is missing as much as what is visible, encouraging viewers to reconsider how they interpret and define others.
• Past Times by Kerry James Marshall (1997) — This artwork stands out because Marshall uses scale, composition, and color to emphasize everyday Black life in a way that fills the entire canvas. The large size of the painting and the dense arrangement of figures make the park scene feel active and full, guiding the viewer’s eye across different interactions happening at once. The contrast between the dark skin tones and the bright background ensures that the figures remain the main focus throughout the composition. Created in response to the lack of Black representation in Western art history, the painting intentionally places Black figures in a leisure setting that has often been excluded from traditional museum imagery. By showing boating, music, sports, and social gathering in a single scene, the artwork expands what is typically shown in representations of Black life and emphasizes the variety of everyday experiences within the composition itself.
• No Woman, No Cry by Chris Ofili (1998) — This painting stands out because Ofili uses a combination of color, texture, and symbolism to connect the figure’s emotional expression with the narrative contained within the image. The woman’s face is shown in close-up, filling most of the canvas, which immediately draws attention to her tears. Inside the tears, the repeated small images of Stephen Lawrence shift the focus between the individual moment of grief and the wider impact of his death. The bright decorative background contrasts with the seriousness of the subject, creating tension within the composition between visual beauty and emotional loss. Created in response to the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and the broader issue of racial violence in Britain, the painting uses layered imagery to link personal grief with collective memory. The combination of scale, symbolism, and repetition keeps the viewer moving between the emotional expression of the figure and the historical reference embedded in the tears.