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We Will Not Become What We Mean to You

A work made of gelatin silver print.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

1983

Artist:

Barbara Kruger
American, born 1945

About this artwork

Barbara Kruger’s photo- and text-based images disrupt representations of power generated by commercial media, particularly those that affect women. Informed by her earlier profession as a graphic designer, her work typically combines images and iconography appropriated from 1940s and 1950s American film, television, and advertising with blunt slogans rife with insinuation. Kruger explained, “I’m interested in how identities are constructed, how stereotypes are formed, how narratives sort of congeal and become history.” Here the artist removed the identifying features of the figure and used the pronouns we and you to implicate the viewer, regardless of gender, in the objectification of this anonymous woman.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Barbara Kruger

Title

We Will Not Become What We Mean to You

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1983

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

184 × 121 × 5 cm (72 1/2 × 48 × 2 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Susan and Lewis Manilow

Reference Number

2004.758

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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