Redbone - Colored China Rags
- Created by
- Valdes, Juana, Cuban American, born 1963
- Manufactured by
- European Ceramic Work Center, Dutch, founded 1969
- Date
- June 2017
- Medium
- slip glaze and pigment on bone china
- Dimensions
- H x W x D (each, approx.): 12 × 3 × 4 in. (30.5 × 7.6 × 10.2 cm)
- Caption
- This art piece by Juana Valdes draws on the artist’s own experiences of migration as a dark skinned Afro-Cuban woman to address issues of race, gender, labor, class and colorism in the African Diaspora. The rag shape of the ceramic sculptures represent the intersection of skin tone, gendered labor, and class by creating a visual representation of domestic work. Displayed together, the 15 pieces are arranged horizontally from light to dark, the balance skewing towards lighter hues as a representation of colorism. The intentional sections of thick or missing pigment on the surface of the rags symbolize skin in different stages of deterioration due to age or hard labor.
- Description
- A set of 15 unique handmade ceramic pieces. Each piece has been folded and curved to give the appearance of a cloth rag and is made of bone china with pigment inserted directly into the clay. The colors, never repeated, range from hues of beiges, yellows, pinks, red, browns, greys, and black to resemble skin tones, and are presented in a horizontal tonal graduation. Some of the darker pieces have intentional sections of thick or missing pigment on the surface.
- Cultural Place
- Cuba, Caribbean, Latin America, North and Central America
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Type
- ceramics
- Topic
- African diaspora
- Art
- Colorism
- Domestic life
- Gender
- Identity
- Immigration
- Labor
- Motherhood
- Poverty
- Race relations
- Women
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, purchased through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative; in memory of Catrina Hill
- Object number
- 2021.72
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Juana Valdes, image courtesy of Spinello Projects, photograph by Diana Larrea
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.