Wigs

Artist Lorna Simpson (American, born 1960)

Date1994

Dimensionsoverall: 72 x 13 ft. 6 1/2 in. (182.9 x 4.1 m)

Mediumwaterless lithographs on felt

ClassificationPrints

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Webster Plass and of Miss Elsie C. Mershon in memory of Edward C. Mershon, by exchange

Object number

2007.7A-MM

Not on View

Label TextHow does your hair reflect or shape your identity? Do you think people sometimes assume things about you based on your hairstyle? In Wigs, Lorna Simpson presents an array of wigs and hairpieces—everything from braids, weaves, falls, and Barbie Doll blonde locks to male facial hair—to raise the issue of how hair has played a central role in African American cultural and personal identity, especially in relationship to traditional white standards of beauty. She printed her photographic images of the hairpieces onto felt, adding a tactile element to the work. Though her work frequently deals with issues of race, gender, class, and identity, she leaves any precise interpretation of her images and text—and how they interact—up to the viewer.Published ReferencesToledo Museum of Art, Toledo Museum of Art Masterworks, Toledo, 2009, p. 352, repr. (col.).Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, PICTURE ID: Contemporary African American Works on Paper, March 14-June 14, 2020.