Acquisitions 

Omar Victor Diop     

Senegalese, born 1980    

Frédérick Douglass  

2015           

Pigment inkjet on printing paper  

23 3/5 x 23 3/5 in.

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Senegalese photographer Omar Victor Diop is a self-taught artist who draws inspiration for his work from celebrated figures within the African diaspora. Diop assumes the role of various saints, martyrs, and leaders from across the global Black community using baroque portraiture style, a genre classified by its dramatic tone and visual tension.

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Frédérick Douglass appears in Diop’s Diaspora series, an arrangement of self‐portraits that reframe contemporary migration in a global historical context to show the contradictions of these movements across time and space. In Diaspora, Diop replaces traditional baroque-era accessories for soccer paraphernalia that reference an underlying conversation on global consumerism and migration, as well as the relationship between notoriety and erasure for Black constituents.

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Acquired for the North Carolina Museum of Art, 2020

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Jeppe Hein      

Danish, born 1974    

Mirror Labyrinth NY  

2016           

High polished stainless steel, aluminum    

106 1/4 x 277 1/2 x 288 1/4 in.

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Jeppe Hein’s portfolio consists of numerous experiential and interactive public works that emphasize the intersections between art, architecture, and technical innovation. Hein's recent works involve the construction of mazes using different media and dynamic elements, including mirrors and light sculptures. Drawing inspiration from the 1970s Minimalist and Conceptual arts, these sculptures often incorporate components that place spectators at the center of events to focus on their experience and perception of the surrounding space.

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Mirror Labyrinth NY is a site-specific installation comprised of equidistant reflective posts. The mirror-polished stainless steel panels form around three radiating arcs that form a labyrinth, distorting the surrounding environment. Mirroring the irregularity of the Manhattan skyline in New York City, the posts are set at various heights but maintain a consistent width. The multifaceted reflections produced by the mirrors put the viewer in an unfamiliar and disorienting setting, challenging their perception of space as they work through the labyrinth.

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Acquired for the North Carolina Museum of Art, 2020 

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Label Copy and  Interpretation

Simone Leigh 

American, born 1967 

Corrugated Lady

2019 

Bronze and raffia 

Inspired by architectural elements and African diasporic art, Leigh’s female figural sculpture is a commanding presence that portrays Black womanhood as a powerful experience constructed around themes of fortitude and persistence. The piece’s wide corrugated base emulates industrial materials and can be read as either a voluminous skirt or an abstracted body. Leigh further abstracts the figure by removing its eyes, resulting in an inwardly focused form that looks beyond the viewer rather than at them.

Through this sculpture, Leigh examines the complexity of Black women’s identity at the intersection of racial and gendered cultural systems. These cultural complexities require Black women to remain composed and stable despite traditional ideas of feminine fragility. Leigh’s perspective on race, gender, and power celebrates Black women’s resiliency as a tool of self-reliance.

Professional Media