Dunham

Simone LeighWW-2017-013462

2017·Terracotta, porcelain, raffia, steel, glass bead, epoxy, and India ink·88.9 × 76.2 × 76.2 cm (35 × 30 × 30 in.)

Simone Leigh’s Dunham examines the relationship between the black female body and the home or dwelling by combining a ceramic bust of a woman with a dome-shaped raffia skirt. The work integrates references from vernacular architectural traditions from Africa, the Caribbean, and the American South into monuments of strength and self-determination. With its introspective gaze, the figure engages the idea of what a body or vessel can hold within itself, expressing the power of interiority. The sculpture’s title gives tribute to Chicago’s cultural history and the pioneering black choreographer Katherine Dunham, whose dance practice introduced movement styles from Africa and the Caribbean into the Western vocabulary of modern dance. Leigh’s interdisciplinary approach anchors these references in the artist’s lived experience and anthropological research, creating a powerful symbol of black female resilience and regality.

Catalogue

Year: 2017
Medium: Terracotta, porcelain, raffia, steel, glass bead, epoxy, and India ink
Dimensions: 88.9 × 76.2 × 76.2 cm (35 × 30 × 30 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Simone Leigh

Artist

Simone Leigh

Sculpture

Recently representing the United States in the 2022 Venice Biennale, Simone Leigh is a pioneer of contemporary sculpture. For over two decades, Leigh has embraced a polyphonic artistic vocabulary that elaborates on Black feminist thought, an intellectual tradition which values and centers the experiences of Black women. Informed by a rigorous attention to a wide swath of historical periods, geographies, and artistic traditions of Africa and the African diaspora, Leigh often combines the female body with domestic vessels or architectural elements to point to unacknowledged acts of labor and care, particularly among and for Black women. Often combining premodern techniques and materials—including lost-wax casting, salt-fired ceramics, and terracotta—with potent cultural iconographies such as cowrie shells, plantains, and tobacco leaves, Leigh creates objects and environments that reframe stereotypes associated with black women and celebrate black life.

Chicago, IL, USA

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