Response to Lorna Simpson's Art

Lorna Simpson’s art is particularly thought-provoking, as she (as detailed in the New York Times article) aims to challenge the dominant social values of race, class, and politics, among other institutions.  All of the work we have seen thus far has been focused on human interests.  However, Simpson’s pieces made me focus much more on the idea of the human, person, individual -- whatever you want to call it -- rather than ideas surrounding humanity and their world.  What I mean by this is, when looking at her art, one sees pieces of people: hair, torsos, chests, faces (and parts of the face), etc.  The identities of these figures are unknown, and I interpret that as a way to challenge stereotypes and prejudices.  In our world -- especially in the world Lorna Simpson lived -- it’s questionable on whether we even care to know even a part of someone’s identity, because it seems as though we’ve got a pretty set-in-stone picture of who s/he is anyway; we build this picture on the foundation of physical appearances and first impressions.  And we seem to be okay with that, even though it’s a threat to how we connect with one another.  I don’t think that Lorna Simpson would jump the gun and flat-out blame people for being grounded in stereotypes and prejudices.  But I do think that she wants us all to question our behaviors and the conventions we so seldom scrutinize.

I just wanted to leave this blog with two quotations I found complementary toward the messages Simpson aims to hand out in her art:

-    “It is the absence of violence in her films and images that lulls the viewer into a false sense of security, like a Hitchcock movie, when suddenly the seriousness of the situation emerges” (Leight).

-    “Ms. Simpson knew what she wanted to focus on: race, a political fact and sociological fantasy that has shaped American culture so thoroughly for so long that no one can tell where its impact begins or ends, though countless people feel its effects every day” (Cotter).

Below is a photograph for a GAP ad campaign taken in 2007.  It’s of Lorna Simpson and her daughter.  It hits home for me because of GAP’s (but I’m sure Simpson led the way on this idea) aim to show that beauty not just held in being white and having white features.  I think it’s a beautiful image; I’m glad I found it.  (LOVE Simpson's sassy expression too!)  Here’s a link to the blog where I found it -- it is filled with many more of Simpson’s pieces, which focuses on hair.
Lorna Simpson Hair Art

~ Gina Marroquin