Peluquería/Barber Shop (Oaxaca, Mexico), from the series “Africa’s Legacy in Mexico”

Tony Gleaton, Peluquería/Barber Shop (Oaxaca, Mexico), from the series "Africa's Legacy in Mexico", 1990, printed 1994, gelatin silver print, 12 x 12 in. (30.5 x 30.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1994.11.2, © 1994 Tony Gleaton. Reproduction of this image requires the Artist's permission.

Artwork Details

Title: Peluquería/Barber Shop (Oaxaca, Mexico), from the series “Africa’s Legacy in Mexico”
Artist: Tony Gleaton
Date: 1990, printed 1994
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: 12 x 12 in. (30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Copyright: © 1994 Tony Gleaton. Reproduction of this image requires the Artist's permission.
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Mediums Description: gelatin silver print
Classifications: Photography
Photoprint
Subjects: Architecture Interior — commercial — barbershop
Object — furniture — chair
Occupation — service — barber
Figure group — male and child
Object Number: 1994.11.2
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1994.11.2

Artwork Description

Traveling the dusty back roads of the Americas by bicycle, bus, or in a converted 1972 Army ambulance, Gleaton sought out communities that bear traces of Africa’s legacy in the New World. In Mexico he made his home in isolated villages in Oaxaca and on the Costa Chica south of Acapulco and sought out a village called Nacimiento de los Negros (Birth of the Blacks); in Bolivia he lived with descendants of the African slave trade.

African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond, 2012