David Shrobe
Prelude to a Flight (Rise), 2022
acrylic, ink, silk, and wood frame
35 x 29 x 1 in
88.9 x 73.7 x 2.5 cm
88.9 x 73.7 x 2.5 cm
Further images
In Prelude to a Flight (Rise) a woman emerges from the deep cosmos or, possibly out of a forest where she exists in alignment with nature; the bird she holds...
In Prelude to a Flight (Rise) a woman emerges from the deep cosmos or, possibly out of a forest where she exists in alignment with nature; the bird she holds on her finger ready to soar. The woman wears a Tignon–a headcoveringwith origins in Louisiana, the Spanish Colonial Gulf, the Caribbean, and West Africa–which was once forced upon woman of color banning them to expose their natural hair. Shrobe is most interested in the Tignon as a symbol of resistance to white colonialism and a powerful gesture of reclamation that woman adopted after the Tignon law was abolished, which is visible in his choice to stylize his subjects and let their hair flow out freely. The title asks, who is preparing to take flight, the bird, or the woman?