Lorna Simpson’s artwork is quite intriguing and thought provoking for several different reasons. I really enjoyed the idea expressed in the New York Times article that while Simpson’s images are fairly bland, some pieces are “toughened” up by words. This affirms how much of a significance text and words have on a piece of art and really put the expressed ideas into perspective. For instance, when I look at one of Simpson’s pieces I have a preconceived notion on what that piece is about, but when I read the text associated with it, my initial perceptions and ideas on the piece were skewed. The process of observing and explicating her work is different from some of the other work we have delved into throughout the duration of the class. A single picture turns into an entire narrative based on the association between the image and the text. It was illustrated in the New York Times article that “as words and images bounce off one another, figures become a character in a narrative: a suspect in a police line up, a subject of racial profiling, a black man under duress.” I also really enjoy Simpson’s political and social intentions within her work. She provokes the social norms and stereotypes (of African-Americans and women specifically) by incorporating the words with text. A lot of her work shows a sense of “moving forward” in terms of racial and social groups. Her work overall is pretty fascinating and really pokes into the depths of a lot of interesting politically charged issues.

The piece that I chose is one by Simpson that I think depicts the progression of women, African-American women specifically, in society. The African-American woman is wearing very nice attire and it physically situated above the white male in the picture. I believe the implicit meaning is that women are equal, qualified, and just as able to succeed in life as men.