Kristine Mays
spoils of the Middle Passage, 2020

wire, paint, trade beads
38”H x 43”W x 13”D

ARTWORK STATEMENT:

Beautiful people with skin the color of umber, mocha, and mahogany were snatched away from their native lands, forced onto a ship and taken to another world. Across the water they went - lives transformed in the ocean. They went from the reality of being a whole human being to being considered loot, booty — from human to possessions, from human to stolen goods to be sold and traded as slaves, chattel, belongings, property.

Artist Bio:

Kristine Mays, a San Francisco, California, native (1969), has been breathing life into wire since 1993. Sculpted from thousands of pieces of wire hooked and looped together by hand, each of Kristine Mays’s sculptures embodies a fleeting gesture or expression that delivers a message of strength and hope. Her work speaks to issues of social justice and humanity.