- Created by
- Rucker, Rashaun, American, born 1978
- Date
- 2020
- Medium
- graphite and paint on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W x D (frame): 32 1/8 × 26 × 2 3/8 in. (81.6 × 66 × 6 cm)
- H x W (work): 23 3/4 × 18 in. (60.3 × 45.7 cm)
- Caption
- Rashaun Rucker is best known for his work dealing with Black male identity and social conditioning. In his Psychological Redlining series, he merges portraits of African American men with images of rock pigeons. Rock pigeons are generally viewed as urban, unclean nuisances. Rucker asserts that people perceive Black men much the same way—essentially pigeonholing them psychologically into a space where they don’t belong. The red cages framing each portrait relates to redlining, a systemic real estate policy demarcating communities of color by red lines on a map to limit access to home loans, insurance, and even grocery stores. Rucker says he created these images to “communicate why we as Black men often don’t fly, even though we have the ability to go far and beyond our circumstance.”
- Description
- This is a mixed media portrait of a man with a pigeon emerging from the top of his head, framed within a red frame in the shape of a birdcage. The graphite portrait shows the man from the neck up. His head is turned a quarter-turn to his right and angled slightly downward. He covers the upper part of his face with the palm and fingers of his right hand. His right arm is shown emerging from the bottom of the birdcage from the wrist up. The man’s face has a slight mustache and stubble along the jawline. The pigeon’s feathers emerge from the top of the man’s head. The bird is formed from the neck up, and its head is in profile to the viewer, gazing to the left. The portrait is enclosed in a frame of red paint in the shape of a birdcage. The two sides consist of narrow red lines while the bottom is a thick red line. The top of the “cage” is semicircular with a domed top. A rounded red finial and two decorative curly spirals complete the top of the dome. The artist's signature "Ruck" appears along the man's neck.
- Place made
- Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan, United States, North and Central America
- Portfolio/Series
- Psychological Redlining (13 Studies)
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Topic
- Art
- Identity
- Men
- Mental health
- Race discrimination
- Stereotypes
- Urban life
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Partial gift of Arthur Primas and Jumaane E. N’Namdi and museum purchase.
- Object number
- 2023.107.1
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Rashaun Rucker
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




