Lonnie B. Holley, Teaching My Child How to See Grandmother’s Mask, 1992, acrylic on paper, 27 ⅜ × 26 ¼ inches. Gift of Delphia Allen Lamberson & Hoke Smith Holt, 2002.01.04.24. © Lonnie B. Holley / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Self-taught, Alabama-born artist Lonnie Holley makes visible the invisible forces that inform society and our lives through both the visual arts and music. In Teaching My Child How to See Grandmother’s Mask, the singular unit of a silhouetted mother and child meld together as they face the mask worn by a ghostly grandmother figure. They appreciate the mask not with their eyes, of which they have none, but with the knowledge of a deeper ancestral connection to the past.
Kristen’s Take
Membership & Museum Events Manager Kristen Boddy shares why this is her favorite work in the Collection:
When I first came across it, I was completely struck by the power of the imagery. I especially enjoy the dream-like quality of the floating mask next to the silhouetted figure.
