Bearing

Featuring 26 works by the acclaimed Los Angeles based artist Alison Saar, the Museum of the African Diaspora is pleased to present Alison Saar: Bearing. Consisting primarily of Saar’s sculpture and installation work, this exhibition explores the ways in which the legacy of history bears on the body, and how this history both shapes and guides the way society conceptualizes identity. Her interest in the body, specifically the mothering body, present both the corporeal and cultural endurance of African American women.

Saar utilizes manipulated materials such as glass and tar and found objects such as sugar sacks, mops, and raw cotton to merge the historical past with contemporary bodies. The historical attachments associated with such materials provoke conversation about the burdens endured by African Americans stemming from the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination, both past and present.