Visionary American artist Juliana Huxtable combines and reimagines cultural histories to challenge preconceived notions of identity, employing a variety of media—from self-portraiture to music and poetry—for the purpose. In this mystical work, for example, the Guggenheim notes that “the surrounding landscape and the references to Nubian and Egyptian cultures recall a style of portraiture popular in African American communities, highlighting a triumphant portrayal of black identity”. Meanwhile, Huxtable’s “overtly feminized posture” accentuates and celebrates the transgender artist’s body, while simultaneously interrogating “normative attitudes toward gender and queer sexuality”.
