The figure, too large to be contained within the bounds of the canvas, possesses a sort of looming presence made all the more intimidating by Ringgold's placement of him in the extreme forefront of the picture plane. The gesture of his hand pressed to his chest appears to protect and excuse him from any kind of response or responsibility. The man's vacant expression suggests someone so fixated on his own point of view that he cannot truly see or hear anyone else's experience. He holds his hand over his heart and stares ahead with a blank, but condescending expression. No longer using confrontational imagery to attack prejudice, she subverts it, instead by providing young African Americans with positive role models, re-imaging hurtful racial stereotypes as strong, successful, and heroic women.Ī mature, white American businessman is depicted in bold colors, hard edges, and flat, simplified shapes.
Her later works deal with prejudice in a different way.Ringgold consciously chooses to lend a folk-art quality to techniques in her story quilts as a means of emphasizing their narrative importance over compositional style. The daughter dreams of flying freely over all barriers, which is represented by the George Washington bridge in the background. The adults visit with each other while the children play and sleep on their blankets. In her story quilt Tar Beach the term 'Tar Beach' refers to the urban rooftop itself, commonly used as a place on which to escape the oppressive heat of an inner city without air conditioning.She combines her African heritage and artistic traditions with her artistic training to create paintings, multi-media soft sculptures, and "story quilts" that elevate the sewn arts to the status of fine art.Her works provide crucial insight into perceptions of white culture by African Americans and vice versa.
Her art confronted prejudice directly and made political statements, often using the shock value of racial slurs within her works to highlight the ethnic tension, political unrest, and the race riots of the 1960s. Ringgold's early art and activism are inextricably intertwined.
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