Glenn Ligon USA, b. 1960

This work by Glenn Ligon features the phrase NEGRO SUNSHINE printed over and over again in various textures and densities. Ligon is known for utilizing repetitive text to question the meaning and power of words and phrases related to race. He has mobilized the phrase "negro sunshine" at different times in his practice, including in 2005, when he created his first neon piece, called Warm Broad Glow, which spelled out the phrase in yellow neon, with the front of the bulbs painted black. The Study for Negro Sunshine II series (2011) shows Ligon repeating and layering the phrase until it seems to lose all meaning and context. The phrase itself comes from the Gertrude Stein novel Three Lives. Stein invokes it repeatedly throughout the book as if it were a common aphorism, though she seems to have invented the phrase herself as a reference to the supposed laid-back, mellow countenance of African Americans post-slavery. The phrase suggests many racist and diminishing characterizations, such as being easy going, relaxed, slow moving and pleasant, which were used to make Black Americans seem simple and harmless. Ligon confronts this slander by separating it from its historical context and using repetition to force the phrase to the forefront of viewers’ minds, subverting whatever intended relevance or meaning it supposedly originally had.