Year: 2013
Medium: wood, tar, book
Dimensions: 55.9 × 58.4 × 35.6 cm (22 x 23 x 14 in.) Book: 17.5 × 10.5 × 1.8 cm (6 7/8 x 4 1/8 x 3/4 in.)
Acquired from New Auction, 2023
During his lifetime, Gates’ father worked as a professional tar roofer in Chicago. Tar, which is used in this work to paint the white wooden nightstand entirely black, symbolizes his beloved father and the distortions within social structures surrounding African American communities in his hometown. A book is placed on top of this black-coated nightstand. A century after the Emancipation Proclamation was declared in 1863, racial discrimination continued to persist as a social issue in the United States, reigning powerfully with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. “Soul Sister,” by journalist and former White House staff member Grace Halsell, was published in 1969 amid such social upheaval. Although Halsell was a white woman, she took medication to darken her skin and blend into Black society. She reported on her experience in this book in order to appeal to the wider public about racial inequality. Gates, who was born in 1973, grew up witnessing the harsh reality of his parents’ generation. In this work, the history of American society emerges through the many contrasting layers of black and white paint. As an art activist who has worked on numerous projects to improve the lives of Black people, Gates makes a powerful statement that racial discrimination is not a thing of the past, but still deeply tied to his own present reality.
