Installation view of Mickalene Thomas, Do I Look Like a Lady? (Comedians and Singers), 2016, presented by Lehmann Maupin and Nathalie Obadia at Art Basel Unlimited, 2017. Photo by Benjamin Westoby for Artsy.
Mickalene Thomas, Do I Look Like a Lady? (Comedians and Singers), 2016
Walking into Thomas’s two-channel film installation is like being invited into a cozy living room to celebrate the diversity of womanhood, and in particular, the many layers of black female identity. Vintage-patterned furniture, inspired by the artist’s childhood, is surrounded by houseplants and stacks of books on feminism and African-American culture. Take a seat and indulge in the footage of female comedians and musicians—Whitney Houston and Josephine Baker among them—simultaneously singing, speaking, or performing across the screens.
