The Redheads Take a Sore Revenge (Attack of the Blueheads)
Artist
Laylah Ali
(American, born 1968)
Date1997
Mediumgouache over graphite on white wove paper
Dimensions25.4 x 25.4 cm (10 x 10 in.)
ClassificationsDrawings
Credit LineCharlotte E.W. Buffington Fund
Object number1998.97
Label TextAli challenges viewers to consider the complicated ways we read cues denoting power, social status, and group relationships. Her works refer to a range of narrative styles informed by ancient hieroglyphics, American folk art, and contemporary comic books.
Using repetition, a limited palette, and flat forms, all commonly found in patterns, The Redheads Take a Sore Revenge (Attack of the Blueheads), presents the shocking aftermath of a mass hanging. The meticulously crafted painting eludes easy interpretation, especially given the ambiguous identities of the victims and the onlookers. The expressions of the observers in the foreground simultaneously convey the anguish of survivors and the aggression of perpetrators. Ali’s difficult image asks viewers to consider systems of injustice whether at the hands of blueheads, redheads, or us.ProvenanceMiller Block galleryOn View
Not on view
Constantino Gómez Salvador
late 19th–early 20th century
