Radcliffe Bailey United States, b. 1968
Mobile Bay 1959, 2019
piano keys and wax
123.5 x 90 x 20 cm
48 9/16 x 35 6/16 x 7 13/16 in
48 9/16 x 35 6/16 x 7 13/16 in
Further images
Bailey’s work draws upon his family’s history, centrally placing images of relatives and ancestors, summoning an American history of adversity and aspiration, retracing journeys made and imagined. Mobile Bay shows...
Bailey’s work draws upon his family’s history, centrally placing images of relatives and ancestors, summoning an American history of adversity and aspiration, retracing journeys made and imagined. Mobile Bay shows a slave ship making the perilous voyage on a metaphorical sea made of piano keys. The keys are displayed in a way that conjures undulating waves—those of the Black Atlantic where human cargo was shipped to America predominantly in the 17th century.
Provenance
Artist studioExhibitions
Resistance, MARUANI MERCIER, Knokke, May 2021Radcliffe Bailey : The Ocean Between, MARUANI MERCIER, Brussels, September 2019