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Quote by Kerry James Marshall

“I want people to understand that this is a very calibrated image [Portrait of the Artist as a Shadow of His Former Self ], where point by point, very little is left to chance.”

Quote by Kerry James Marshall

Author

Kerry James Marshall

Kerry James Marshall is an American artist known for his exploration of the historical and cultural identity of African Americans. His work is typically presented in the form of large-scale murals and paintings, addressing themes such as race, identity, and power. more

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“The condition of visibility as it relates to black people was crucial. Connected to that, I've always been interested in science fiction and horror films and was acutely aware of the political and social implications of Ralph Ellison's description of invisibility as it relates to black people, as opposed to the kind of retinal invisibility that H.G. Wells described in his novel Invisible Man.”

“In [Ralph] Ellison's case, it's more psychological than it is phenomenal, and it's conditioned by anger, animosity, and lack of desire to engage with the black body. There was always simultaneity that had nothing to do with visuality. You can be there and not be there at the same time and be fully visible all the time. That's what really struck me about Ellison .”

Body Desire Black Cases Psychological Visible Phenomenal Animosity

Author:Kerry James Marshall

“What I preserved in the figures [at Invisible Man] are those white eyes and white teeth, because that's still connected to the way in which blackness, in the extreme, has been stigmatized and the way it was often joked that you couldn't see black people in the dark until they had their eyes open or were smiling.”

People Men Way Has Beens Stills Eye Black Dark White Figures Extremes Connected Invisible Teeth Black People Blackness White Teeth

Author:Kerry James Marshall

“When I started, I was aware of using the black as a rhetorical device. It's understanding that black people come in a wide range of colors, but you find instances in a lot of black literature in which the blackness is used as a metaphor.”

People Used Literature Understanding Black Color Metaphor Wide Instance Range Devices Black People Blackness Rhetorical

Author:Kerry James Marshall

“In some places you can find an extreme blackness used as a descriptive. I also take into account historical realities that some of this range in color is the legacy of white supremacy.”

Reality Used White Color Accounts Historical Extremes Legacy Range White Supremacy Blackness Supremacy

Author:Kerry James Marshall

“The privileged position of whiteness doesn't allow for someone with one drop of Negro blood to be considered white, which allows whiteness to be a fairly pure category while blackness has to absorb an expansive reality of representation.”

Reality White Blood Position Pure Categories Representation Privileged Blackness Whiteness

Author:Kerry James Marshall

“Part of what I am dealing with, with this blackness, is asking the question, "Where are those black people, who are as dark as the description of a young black boy that Solomon Northup gives in 12 Years A Slave?" He describes the young black 14-year-old boy as "blacker than any crow." You have to question if he is using that metaphorically or as a descriptive?”

People Ifs Giving Years Young Black Dark Boys Asking Slave Description Black People Crow Blackness Solomon Black Boy

Author:Kerry James Marshall

“Part of the history of black people in the western hemisphere, in some ways, has been fleeing from this notion that they were black. So I can represent an ideal, and with that, you can demonstrate that there is nothing to be afraid of, nothing to run from, and that, in fact, a good deal of beauty that resides there.”

People Way Has Beens I Can Facts Running Black Deals Ideals Western Notion Black People Fleeing Hemisphere

Author:Kerry James Marshall

“It's forcing the issue of perception by rendering an image that is just at the edge of perception, which in someway forces you to look more closely and for you to adjust your vision so you can see in the dark.”

Looks Force Dark Vision Issues Perception Edges Rendering

Author:Kerry James Marshall

“It's almost as if this is the fundamental procedure in modern society: duplication and recycling.”

Ifs Modern Fundamentals Procedures Modern Society Recycling Duplication

Author:Susan Sontag