Artwork Details
- Title
- Mangual
- Artist
- Date
- 1998
- Location
- Dimensions
- 54 1⁄2 × 36 1⁄4 in. (138.4 × 92.1 cm), depth variable
- Copyright
- © 1998, Pepón Osorio
- Credit Line
- Museum purchase in part through the Smithsonian Latino Initiatives Pool, administered by the Smithsonian Latino Center, and the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
- Mediums
- Mediums Description
- single-channel video, color, silent; 03:25 minutes
- Classifications
- Subjects
- Figure male
- African American
- Object Number
- 2022.67.2A-B
Artwork Description
Las Twines emphasizes that the physical traits we often read as markers of race--skin and hair color--can vary widely, even among closely related family members, like the twins presented here.
Pepón Osorio expands the twins' story through the video Mangual. Following the death of their mother, the twins fear they will become separated since they appear to belong to different racialized groups. The sisters embark on a desperate journey to find their biological father. Their presumed father, Mangual, washes white makeup from his face and shakes his head in denial of his paternity.
Mangual and Las Twines were part of a larger 1998 installation that explored colorism--prejudice against the darker-skinned members of the same racialized group--within the artist's Puerto Rican diasporic community. The installation also highlighted how the idea of race differs in the Caribbean and mainland United States.
Label text from The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture November 8, 2024 -- September 14, 2025