Betye Saar, Mti 1973. Tate. © reserved.
This room brings together two artists from different generations and places whose art reimagines historical narratives and visual references to the past
Betye Saar’s Mti is a shrine-like sculpture assembled from found materials and painted with different cultural and spiritual symbols. Since the 1960s, Saar has created assemblages that address Black experiences in the US and has worked to confront and counter racist representations in popular culture. In Mti Saar incorporates discarded objects, talismans, and iconography from African and Caribbean cultures to explore spirituality, magic and the occult.
Saar has said, ‘I’m intrigued with combining the remnant of memories, fragments of relics and ordinary objects... It’s a way of delving into the past and reaching into the future simultaneously. The art itself becomes the bridge.’
Firelei Báez’s paintings draw from Dominican and Haitian history, mythology and folklore, as well as science fiction. Untitled (A Map of the British Empire in America) imaginatively renders a figure from Dominican folklore in colossal scale on top of a British colonial map of the Caribbean. By connecting and reworking references from the past, Báez’s painting addresses the ongoing impact of colonialism and imagines new possibilities for the future.
Firelei Báez, Untitled (A Map of the British Empire in America) 2021
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artworks in Betye Saar and Firelei Baez
Betye Saar, Mti 1973
Mti 1973 is a shrine-like sculpture just over a metre high made from various materials collected and assembled by American artist Betye Saar. Its base comprises four large palm fronds; these prop up a platform on which there are four candles and a wooden box, open at the front. A second wooden box rests on top of this. On this box rests an orb on which a skull-like mask has been placed, facing upwards. The two boxes contain several figures. The lower box houses a black-faced doll; the upper one houses three standing animal gods. The two boxes are painted on all three closed sides with several all-seeing eyes, crosses and palms. There are multiple other decorations over the sculpture including beaded bracelets, bones and animal figurines.
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artworks in Betye Saar and Firelei Baez
Art in this room
Firelei Báez
Untitled (A Map of the British Empire in America)
2021
Betye Saar
Mti
1973