Monetta Passing
by Deana Lawson
Artist
Deana Lawson
(USA, född 1979)
Alternate Title
- Monettas bortgång
Date2021
MediumInkjet print in artist's frame
DimensionsRam: 132,3 × 166,8 × 6,7 cm
ClassificationPhotography
Credit LineDonation 2021 from The American Friends of the Moderna Museet Inc.
Countries
Object NumberMOM/2021/459
The artwork is not on display
About the artworkOn a cot draped in shiny purple fabric lies a dead woman on lit de parade. Beside her, a man dressed in black gazes directly into the camera with a solemn expression. The gold-coloured drapery and the lavish floral arrangement speak a different language than the simply framed family photographs and the exercise equipment on the right side of the image - as if this were, in more than one sense, a place where two worlds meet. In her colour photographs, Deana Lawson explores the Black experience in relation to history, myth, and spirituality, often through staged portraits that are rich in symbolism and personal details. Her work combines Western and African portrait traditions, in settings where the personal and cultural converge.