A visualization of how whiteness as a racial category is meaningless unless another group is locked into the role of “other” — specifically, Blackness and Black identity.

European colonization records indicate white and Black racial categories were created to justify chattel slavery, beginning in the late 17th century. The two novels used in this diptych embody this rationale, as their plots relied heavily on racist depictions of Black and Indigenous women. The artist hand-carved niches in each book, then inserted images of Black caregivers over stereotypical illustrations of white women and “happy” enslaved Africans. The contrast highlights the difference between white women's supposed frailty and Black women’s stereotypical tireless labor.

DETAILS

• Altered book diptych (pair)

• Free-standing objet d’art

• 7.75 x 21.5 x 1.75 inches

• Hand-carved niches; covers and text block (pages) sealed closed

• Ships from studio