Hamilton, New Jersey
“Joyce J. Scott: Harriet Tubman and Other Truths” featured 74 works that tell stories from African American and world history, including two imposing new outdoor sculptures, as well as early works and a selection of objects collected within an installation called Harriet’s Closet. For Scott, “Tubman represents a part of me that I hope all Americans will never lose–building a road as you’re walking on it.” Pushing beadwork beyond a narrow categorization of ethnic craft or women’s work, Scott uses it to spin narratives that explicitly address race and gender, war and peace. Rodney King’s Head Was Squashed Like a Watermelon (1991), for instance, boils down the notorious 1991 beating into a taut critique of stereotypes that dehumanize and incite violence. …see the entire review in the print version of June’s Sculpture magazine.
