Existing comment:
Jesus Barraza, Dignidad Rebelde
born El Paso, Texas 1976
Steve Biko
2001/2013
screenprint on paper
Museum purchase through the Samuel and Blanche Koffler Acquisition Fund, 2020.39.3
South African activist Steve Biko, one of the most outspoken critics of apartheid, was killed in 1977. The artist surrounds Biko with red, green, and black, the colors of the Pan-African flag, a symbol of Black liberation. Barraza quotes Biko from one of his most important speeches, "White Racism and Black Consciousness" (1971). His words urged Black South Africans to consider how colonial and racist worldviews, which thoroughly molded historical narratives, have shaped their own perception of Black life and culture. |