Big James Sweats Buckets

Vik Muniz, Big James Sweats Buckets, 1996, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, 1998.31.1
Copied Vik Muniz, Big James Sweats Buckets, 1996, gelatin silver print, sheet: 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase made possible by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation, 1998.31.1

Artwork Details

Title
Big James Sweats Buckets
Artist
Date
1996
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 14 x 11 in. (35.6 x 27.9 cm.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase made possible by the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation
Mediums Description
gelatin silver print
Classifications
Highlights
Subjects
  • Figure male — child — bust
  • African American
Object Number
1998.31.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1998.31.1

Artwork Description

Vik Muniz drew portraits of the children of sugar cane workers he met on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts using sugar crystals on black paper, which he then photographed for the series he called "The Sugar Children." As he wipes the paper clean after creating each image and begins again, his actions and his subjects' lives take on symbolic value, suggesting that generations of cane workers have been consumed by the sugar industry.