My Dreams, My Works Must Wait Till After Hell

A still from the video shows a woman reclining with her head covered in stones
Copied Girl, Simone Leigh, Chitra Ganesh, My Dreams, My Works Must Wait Till After Hell, 2011, single-channel digital video, color, sound; 07:14 minutes, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Samuel and Blanche Koffler Acquisition Fund, 2019.33.1, © Girl (Simone Leigh and Chitra Ganesh); Courtesy of the artists and Luhring Augustine, New York

Artwork Details

Title
My Dreams, My Works Must Wait Till After Hell
Artists
Girl
Date
2011
Location
Not on view
Copyright
© Girl (Simone Leigh and Chitra Ganesh); Courtesy of the artists and Luhring Augustine, New York
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Samuel and Blanche Koffler Acquisition Fund
Mediums Description
single-channel digital video, color, sound; 07:14 minutes
Classifications
Object Number
2019.33.1
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2019.33.1

Artwork Description

Working as an artistic duo named Girl, Leigh and Ganesh reimagine the reclining female nude, a common subject in European painting and sculpture, from their perspective as queer women of color. Instead of a pale-skinned, forward-facing Venus, viewers are shown the back of a black woman lying perfectly still on a marble slab. Her entire head is covered---either smothered or shielded---by a pile of small stones; subtle breath movements are the only sign of life. By hiding facial and sexual features, the artists offer some protection for this real person being presented as an idealized object. The video's title comes from a Gwendolyn Brooks poem, in which life's honey is stored but not tasted. It is saved as the speaker heads to war, the time of his return unknown, suggesting a parallel in the defensive precautions black women use to survive life's daily hostilities.