Skip to Content

Africa Restored (Cheryl as Cleopatra)

Large black sculpture in the shape of Africa. The form is covered in gold chains, circular photographs or "medallions" depicting prominent African American figures, and other images and text. The sculpture hangs on a white wall. 
"

Image actions

  • Large black sculpture in the shape of Africa. The form is covered in gold chains, circular photographs or "medallions" depicting prominent African American figures, and other images and text. The sculpture hangs on a white wall. 
"

Date:

2003

Artist:

Kerry James Marshall
American, born 1955

About this artwork

Kerry James Marshall describes Africa Restored (Cheryl as Cleopatra) as “the shape of Africa reconfigured as a cubist sculpture.” Reversing art-historical narratives of modernist painting’s appropriation of African sculpture, it offers a complex meditation on African ancestry and black aesthetics. Africa Restored formally references the nkisi nkondi, or power figures, of the Democratic Republic of Congo. These sculptures were crafted as basic armatures into which accretions of metals, mirrors, and nails were driven to activate their force.

Affixed to the sculpture are “medallions,” or “icons,” in the form of photographic images and texts laminated in plastic that refer to both prominent and lesser-known figures within the black freedom movement in America as well as to Egyptian iconographies adopted by African Americans in the 1970s as a way to challenge dominant Western worldviews. In producing his speculative history of Africa and its diaspora, Marshall also casts his contemporaries as stars in his constellation of references—for example, the artist’s wife, artist and actor Cheryl Lynn Bruce, performs as Cleopatra. Notably, Marshall adds new elements each time the sculpture goes on view, including for this current presentation. Thus, the work can be seen as an unfinished, living sculpture—open to continued revision by the artist.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Kerry James Marshall

Title

Africa Restored (Cheryl as Cleopatra)

Place

United States (Object made in)

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.

2003

Medium

Polystyrene and latex on plywood, with ink-jet prints mounted in laminated acrylic

Dimensions

203.3 × 144.8 × 88.9 cm (80 × 57 × 35 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Susan and Lewis Manilow

Reference Number

2008.87

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.

Share

Sign up for our enewsletter to receive updates.

Learn more

Image actions

Share