TAR BABY Mirrored Wall Art
3” H x 16” W
Contact: Maya Shah at mayapir@gmail.com for details
I used my body to create each letter of the alphabet. This alphabet is a coded language; each shape speaking to a history of oppression against Black bodies and its inherent liberation. I use the term tar baby to describe the font because by definition a tar baby is a “difficult problem that is aggravated by attempts to solve it.” It became a racial slur in the 1940s, shadowing its original meaning.
Tar Baby Code demands the viewer’s willingness to oscillate between the actual words and my body. There are hundreds of versions of the Tar Baby story. Interestingly, in many versions, the Tar Baby is in a female form. An inanimate object representing the black female is all too familiar of a storyline descending from the practice of minstrelsy. Naturally, “she” is the center of the storyline, she is the ruse to entrap and the unrecognized liberator.
I have found that Tar Baby Code allows me to convey my true feelings about the issues of intersectionality – that of being a black woman in America. As I seek to find my place in society, I self-reflect on my struggles and their possible solutions. Tar Baby resonates with me because the character meets adversity with wit, humor and intelligence.
CONTRAPSHUN Mirrored Wall Art
3” H x 24” W
Contact: Maya Shah at mayapir@gmail.com for details
“BRE’R FOX WENT TER WUK EN GOT ‘IM SOME TAR, EN MIX IT WID SOME TUKENTIME, EN FIX UP A CONTRAPSHUN W’AT HE CALL A TAR BABY”
CONTRAPSHUN
31” H x 32” W
Contact: Maya Shah at mayapir@gmail.com for details
“BRE’R FOX WENT TER WUK EN GOT ‘IM SOME TAR, EN MIX IT WID SOME TUKENTIME, EN FIX UP A CONTRAPSHUN W’AT HE CALL A TAR BABY”
