- Exhibition
- Reclaiming My Time
- Designed by
- Barnes, Germane
- Created by
- Barnes, Germane
- Date
- 2021
- Medium
- paint on plywood and metal with rope and putty
- Dimensions
- H x W x D: 40 3/4 × 22 3/8 × 18 1/16 in. (103.5 × 56.8 × 45.8 cm)
- Description
- A porch chair from a series titled “Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears the Crown,” by Germane Barnes. The chair consists of a seat (a) with a comb chairback (b) and is primarily composed of natural and painted wood and metal. The wooden chairback is designed to resemble an Afro pick with seven, elongated teeth that extent downwards, terminating just above the floor. The chair features a comb shaft neck rest/backrest with a feather design, inspired by Junkanoo Band headgear. The top of the headrest is slightly rounded at the top with eleven conical, points with curved sides. There are three elongated points at the center framed on each side by four smaller points. The front and back of the backrest is a natural light wood color with a darker wood grain. The cross rail supporting the chairback, the two arms, four legs, and seat frame are metal and have been painted a solid yellow color. The front chair legs are straight and the back chair legs are diagonal and extend slightly behind the chairback. The seat is constructed from interwoven orange, white, tan, yellow, dark green and twine. At the center of the seat, starting from the apron and extending to almost the chairback, is a large, orange, triangular warp pattern woven into a weft pattern of a thick white band near the apron and thinner tan, yellow, green, and white bands near the backrest. There are also three thin, white, warp twine bands interwoven into the weft color bands framing the orange triangular pattern at the center on either side. The base of the arms, near the seat, are wrapped with twine that form yellow, green, and white bands. The four corners of the frame are bare, exposing the yellow frame below.
- Place made
- Miami, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, North and Central America
- Portfolio/Series
- Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears The Crown
- Classification
- Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design
- Type
- seats and seat components
- chairs
- Topic
- Africa
- African diaspora
- Architecture
- Art
- Design
- Furniture design
- Hair
- Holidays and festivals
- Identity
- Ornamentation
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
- Object number
- 2022.84.2ab
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Germane Barnes
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




