Sligh's Message

In “Healing the Cultural Body” Laura U. Marks discusses the work of Clarissa Sligh. Sligh, an African American female artist, uses the notion of time to give a voice to and discuss themes of gender and race. This is exemplified perfectly in her cyanotype with pastel Kill or Be Killed (1991). The cyanotype shows African American men in church while the dialogue “to be ‘a man’ you are required to be willing to kill or be killed” came from a questionnaire she sent out to “dozens of friends and acquaintances.” The gender role presented by the piece is very masculine while the photographs of the African American men allude to the role African American males have traditionally had to play into, which was very masculine and very strong.
In the essay Sligh is quoted as saying that during the civil rights movement very few men participated in passive resistant demonstrations because of this expected strong masculine role. I think this history is what Sligh is trying to portray in this work. The cyanotype process has been around since the mid 19th century so it gives a historical marking to the work. This choice of process along with the expressed traditional role for African American men seem to be pointing out this historically marginalized group and showing how little has changed.