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Artworks

Untitled, 2004

  • Artist

    Laylah Ali

  • Title

    Untitled

  • Date

    2004

  • Medium

    Gouache on paper

  • Dimensions

    10 3/8 × 8 3/8 in. (26.4 × 21.3 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Acquisition Committee

  • Object Number

    2005.3.2

Untitled is a later work in Laylah Ali’s "Greenheads" series, which focuses on androgynous green figures, often depicted in groups in the moments leading up to or immediately following violent interactions. By removing specific signifiers of race, gender, class, and place, the figures become an allegory of social inequity. Ali includes only ambiguous hints about how their larger social order is structured. This work highlights a lone figure (rare in the series), concealed inside a patterned, possibly protective garment that covers all but a small patch of face. As its unblinking, watchful eyes peer out at us, we wonder what in the mysterious figure’s environment has shaped its appearance.


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Artworks

Untitled, 2004

  • Artist

    Laylah Ali

  • Title

    Untitled

  • Date

    2004

  • Medium

    Gouache on paper

  • Dimensions

    10 3/8 × 8 3/8 in. (26.4 × 21.3 cm)

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Acquisition Committee

  • Object Number

    2005.3.2

Untitled is a later work in Laylah Ali’s "Greenheads" series, which focuses on androgynous green figures, often depicted in groups in the moments leading up to or immediately following violent interactions. By removing specific signifiers of race, gender, class, and place, the figures become an allegory of social inequity. Ali includes only ambiguous hints about how their larger social order is structured. This work highlights a lone figure (rare in the series), concealed inside a patterned, possibly protective garment that covers all but a small patch of face. As its unblinking, watchful eyes peer out at us, we wonder what in the mysterious figure’s environment has shaped its appearance.


Explore further