Untitled (We will no longer be seen and not heard)

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Untitled (We will no longer be seen and not heard)

Artist Barbara Kruger (American, born 1945)

Publisher Peter Blum Edition, New York

Printer Derrière L'Etoile Studios, New York

Date1985

DimensionsOverall: 20 5/8 x 20 5/8 in. (52.4 x 52.4 cm)

MediumPortfolio of 9 color lithographs with screenprinting

ClassificationPrints

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the Libbey Endowment, Gift of Edward Drummond Libbey

Object number

1986.72A-I

Not on View

Label TextFor this group of works Barbara Kruger collected nine photographs, some illustrating the sign language for the deaf, cropped them for dramatic effect, added one word to each, and reproduced them as lithographs. The superimposed words do not correspond to the signs’ original meanings. In keeping with the artist’s wishes the pictures can be arranged as displayed here, reading “We will no longer be seen and not heard” or, the order can be switched to read “We will no longer be heard and not seen.” Kruger’s work has a mass media look, especially like the commercial advertising seen on billboards. Like advertising, there is in her work an image/message designed to engage the viewer. Her provocative messages explore the images of language and the power of stereotypes. “Basically I want to be effective in making changes in power relations,” Kruger explains. “And my area of acuity is working with images and words.” In this work Kruger extols those who are undervalued to resist oppression.Exhibition HistoryPrints and Print Makers Feb.20 - June 9, 1996 Displayed upstairs (Gallery 4) summer 2002 (May 29 - August 27) TMA, Word Play (October 16, 2009- February 7, 2010)