Rubber Soul, Monument of Aspiration
Artist: Mary Sibande (South African, born 1982)
Date: 2011
Dimensions:
overall: 101 1/2 x 57 x 64 1/2 in. (257.8 x 144.8 x 163.8 cm);
base: 40 1/8 x 32 3/8 x 32 3/8 in. (101.9 x 82.2 x 82.2 cm)
Medium: Cast resin mannequin, cotton, tulle, rubber
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Gift of The Georgia Welles Apollo Society
Object number: 2013.160A-G
Label Text:"[My] work addresses ideas of binary opposites of 'power and weakness’, ‘effort and the lack thereof', but also complicated by ways of representing this conundrum."
--Mary Sibande
In her work Mary Sibande investigates issues of race, class, tradition, power, and colonial legacies in post-apartheid South Africa. Rubber Soul is the last in a series depicting Sibande’s semi-autobiographical character Sophie, a South African maid. Sophie tends to appear as a matte black mannequin with her eyes closed, dressed seemingly both as a maid and a Victorian madam.
The khaki fabric and brass buttons of Sophie’s dress are associated with the characteristic suits of male members of South Africa’s Zion Christian Church, as are the white, rubber-soled shoes and Sophie’s jumping action, which is part of a male church society’s praise rituals. The ambiguity of costume is a way for Sibande to question the overly simplistic dichotomies of servant versus mistress, Black versus white, and masculine versus feminine, while asserting the power of fantasy and self-fashioned identity.
--Mary Sibande
In her work Mary Sibande investigates issues of race, class, tradition, power, and colonial legacies in post-apartheid South Africa. Rubber Soul is the last in a series depicting Sibande’s semi-autobiographical character Sophie, a South African maid. Sophie tends to appear as a matte black mannequin with her eyes closed, dressed seemingly both as a maid and a Victorian madam.
The khaki fabric and brass buttons of Sophie’s dress are associated with the characteristic suits of male members of South Africa’s Zion Christian Church, as are the white, rubber-soled shoes and Sophie’s jumping action, which is part of a male church society’s praise rituals. The ambiguity of costume is a way for Sibande to question the overly simplistic dichotomies of servant versus mistress, Black versus white, and masculine versus feminine, while asserting the power of fantasy and self-fashioned identity.
DescriptionA black, cast resin mannequin of a woman jumping straight up with eyes closed, head bent over, and arms outstretched. The mannequin is wearing a large, decadently ruffled, Victorian style dress made of khaki colored canvas fabric with brass colored buttons. The dress is full in the back, but bunched up in the front to reveal the darker green lining underneath and the feet of the mannequin wearing white, rubber shoes. She is also wearing a white cotton headscarf knotted in the back and white apron with the apron ties hanging over the back of her dress. The entire sculpture is mounted on a black pedestal so that she appears to be jumping on top of it.
A black, cast resin mannequin of a woman jumping straight up with eyes closed, head bent over, and arms outstretched. The mannequin is wearing a large, decadently ruffled, Victorian style dress made of khaki colored canvas fabric with brass colored buttons. The dress is full in the back, but bunched up in the front to reveal the darker green lining underneath and the feet of the mannequin wearing white, rubber shoes. She is also wearing a white cotton headscarf knotted in the back and white apron with the apron ties hanging over the back of her dress. The entire sculpture is mounted on a black pedestal so that she appears to be jumping on top of it.
MATERIALS: Pedestal: Wood products. Armature: Painted steel. Mannequin: Resin based? Painted black. Clothing: Pirelli PZero fabric, leather shoes with tire tread bottoms, starched white linen(?) accessories, shiny brass buttons, stretchy dark synthetic fabric for underskirt (spandex?, polyester?)
A black, cast resin mannequin of a woman jumping straight up with eyes closed, head bent over, and arms outstretched. The mannequin is wearing a large, decadently ruffled, Victorian style dress made of khaki colored canvas fabric with brass colored buttons. The dress is full in the back, but bunched up in the front to reveal the darker green lining underneath and the feet of the mannequin wearing white, rubber shoes. She is also wearing a white cotton headscarf knotted in the back and white apron with the apron ties hanging over the back of her dress. The entire sculpture is mounted on a black pedestal so that she appears to be jumping on top of it.
MATERIALS: Pedestal: Wood products. Armature: Painted steel. Mannequin: Resin based? Painted black. Clothing: Pirelli PZero fabric, leather shoes with tire tread bottoms, starched white linen(?) accessories, shiny brass buttons, stretchy dark synthetic fabric for underskirt (spandex?, polyester?)
Not on view
In Collection(s)