<I>The Awakening</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2022
name: label: Created by
content: David Huffman, American, born 1963
label: Manufactured by
content: John Annesley Company, American
label: Subject of
content: Emmett Till, American, 1941 - 1955
notes: label: Description
content: A strip of differently patterned kente cloth with a checkerboard pattern of a yellow, green, white, and black stepped design alternating with a dark pink, green, yellow, and black hatched design extends diagonally across the center, bisecting the canvas below. There is another piece with the checkerboard pattern at the right corner of the piece. The kente cloth swaths are blended into the canvas with muted browns, orange, and white paint swirls and strokes. In the top right corner is a photographic image of Earth’s moon overlaying one end of the kente cloth swaths. In the top left are two rows of a repeating, green glitter Egyptian sphinx blended with Huffman's mother’s side profile, just above a swath of many small orbs in multiple shades of purple. In the bottom left quadrant are areas of florescent pink and white diamonds over black, along with another small, purple moon. In the bottom right quadrant is a circle of six, green glitter Egyptian sphinx heads. Along the bottom edge of the bottom right quadrant are fabric letters that spell EMMETT. The “E” is backwards, and the first “M” and last “T” are upside down. Each letter is made from a different brightly patterned fabric. The mixed media elements are further blended with a mix of drips, splatters, and brush applied paints as well as spray paints, color pencil markings, and glitter over the surface of the work. On the verso, across the stretcher’s top bar, and repeated on the canvas above, is the artist’s signature and date written in black ink that reads [David Huffman 2022].
place: label: Place made
content: Oakland, Alameda County, California, United States, North and Central America
label: Place made
content: Healdsburg, Sonoma County, California, United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Abstraction
label: Topic
content: Africa
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Identity
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Movement
content: Afrofuturism
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2023.81.1
objectType: label: Type
content: mixed media
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © David Huffman
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: acrylic paint, oil paint, cloth, glitter, adhesive, ink on paper (fiber product), colored pencils on canvas with wood
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 77 × 77 × 2 3/4 in. (195.6 × 195.6 × 7 cm)