<I>Redbone - Colored China Rags</I>
date: label: Date
content: June 2017
name: label: Created by
content: Juana Valdes, Cuban American, born 1963
label: Manufactured by
content: European Ceramic Work Center, Dutch, founded 1969
notes: label: Caption
content: This art piece by Juana Valdes draws on the artist’s own experiences of migration as a dark skinned Afro-Cuban woman to address issues of race, gender, labor, class and colorism in the African Diaspora. The rag shape of the ceramic sculptures represent the intersection of skin tone, gendered labor, and class by creating a visual representation of domestic work. Displayed together, the 15 pieces are arranged horizontally from light to dark, the balance skewing towards lighter hues as a representation of colorism. The intentional sections of thick or missing pigment on the surface of the rags symbolize skin in different stages of deterioration due to age or hard labor.
label: Description
content: A set of 15 unique handmade ceramic pieces. Each piece has been folded and curved to give the appearance of a cloth rag and is made of bone china with pigment inserted directly into the clay. The colors, never repeated, range from hues of beiges, yellows, pinks, red, browns, greys, and black to resemble skin tones, and are presented in a horizontal tonal graduation. Some of the darker pieces have intentional sections of thick or missing pigment on the surface.
place: label: Cultural Place
content: Cuba, Caribbean, Latin America, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: African diaspora
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Colorism
label: Topic
content: Domestic life
label: Topic
content: Gender
label: Topic
content: Identity
label: Topic
content: Immigration
label: Topic
content: Labor
label: Topic
content: Motherhood
label: Topic
content: Poverty
label: Topic
content: Race relations
label: Topic
content: Women
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, purchased through the American Women's History Initiative Acquisitions Pool, administered by the Smithsonian American Women's History Initiative; in memory of Catrina Hill
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2021.72
objectType: label: Type
content: ceramics
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Juana Valdes, image courtesy of Spinello Projects, photograph by Diana Larrea
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: slip glaze and pigment on bone china
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (each, approx.): 12 × 3 × 4 in. (30.5 × 7.6 × 10.2 cm)