SLIGH, CLARISSA

Passages, Family 3, 2002
Archival pigmented ink jet print
15 x 11 1/4 inches on 19 x 13 inch watercolor paper
Signed Edition of 50

(United States, b. 1939)

The art of Clarissa Sligh is an ongoing investigation and reinterpretation of conventional ideas of normality, specifically as they apply to gender and race. She is best known for her subtle reworkings of childhood school books such as the Dick and Jane series of the 1940s-60s, and for her use of her own family snapshots. Passages, Family 3, 2002 speaks to historic and contemporary stereotyping of African Americans in the military, but also refers to an ability to turn the deadly pursuit of was into a game - an issue that crosses racial boundaries. Sligh has a BFA and an MFA from Howard University (1972, 1999) and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania (1973). Her work is held in many institutional collections and exhibited widely. She currently lives and works in New York.