Fake Bitches Stick Together

Artist Lakea Shepard American, born 1990

Date2019; photo printed 2024

MediumPearls, hand-made ceramic sculptures, vintage jewels, semiprecious stones and minerals, glass beads, African beads, hand-painted wax linen, cotton thread, digital print, wood frame

Dimensionsheight, width, and depth (mask): 17 × 8 × 8 in. (43.2 × 20.3 × 20.3cm)
height, width, and depth (framed photograph): 37 3/4 × 25 3/4 × 2 1/8 in. (95.9 × 65.4 × 5.4cm)
height and width (unframed photograph): 36 × 24 in. (91.4 × 61cm)

ClassificationsMixed Media

Credit LinePurchased with funds from the William R. Roberson Jr. and Frances M. Roberson Endowed Fund for North Carolina Art

Object number2024.12.1a-b

On View

Not on view

Label TextEach piece in Shepard’s series of masquerades explores trauma and healing processes for the Black community while highlighting a particular gemstone for its restorative properties. The mask’s design subverts the form of an iron slave mask meant to mute its victim by reimagining a tool of enslavement as an object of protection. Here the artist uses pearls, cross-culturally believed to promote tranquility, balance, and a calm nervous system.ProvenanceCreated by the artist, 2019; Sold to the NCMA, 2024Exhibition HistoryWinston-Salem, NC, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA/NCMA Winston-Salem), "The Threads We Follow," November 16, 2023–March 10, 2024. Object Rights Statement

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