Our guest blogger today is Modupe Labode, Assistant Professor of History and Museum Studies and a Public Scholar of African American History and Museums at IUPUI. She writes about the current exhibition, "Hard Truths: The Art of Thornton Dial."
"Everybody's Welcome in Peckerwood City," 2005, Doormat, cardboard, wood doors, steel, tin, bed frame, wire fencing, cloth, wood, towel, enamel, and spray paint Collection of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation. (front)
When I first saw this piece, it stood out because it was so different from the dense thickness of Thornton Dial’s other works. The series of doors are almost playful and are painted in green, blue, and white. There is even a welcome mat before one of the doors. The work brings to mind the fabled tradition of Southern hospitality, in which no one is made to feel a stranger. Going to the other side of the work I was faced with a tangle of raw wood, wires, nails, boards, and rags. Two strange red and white figures creep amidst the disorder. It is only when I returned to the other side of the work that I saw an ominous pool of red, seemingly oozing from behind the doors.
Filed under: Exhibitions, Guest Bloggers, Thornton Dial
