LOOKING BACK

Related Content

• Adolfo Carrion for Mayor?
  May 8, 2012
• A Breakdown of the NYC Bike Share Map
  May 12, 2012
• Bronx Advocates Call for Alternatives to Arrests of Students Inside Public Schools (UPDATED)
  May 10, 2012
• Twelve Teen Girls Wanted In Subway Assault, French Fry Robbery *VIDEO*
  May 3, 2012
• Once Upon a Time in the Bronx: Theatre of the Oppressed Explores Violence, Family Life
  April 29, 2012

More About

• Glenn Ligon
• Jason Moran
• The Bronx
• The White House
• John Howard

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

If you were to visit the White House, you would find the work of the groundbreaking African-American artist and Bronx native Glenn Ligon. The Obamas selected his 1992 work, Black Like Me No. 2, which repeats the phrase, “All the traces of the Griffin I had been were wiped from existence,” a line from John Howard Griffin’s famous book, until the text gradually blurs and becomes illegible. Ligon, who is gay, rose up in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the leader of a movement in art that defiantly challenged traditional definitions of race and sexuality. The Whitney presents his first comprehensive mid-career retrospective of about 100 works, including paintings, prints, photography, drawings, and sculptural installations. On March 23 at 8, see his latest video piece, “The Death of Tom,” an “abstractionist recreation” of the final scene of Edwin S. Porter’s 1903 silent movie Uncle Tom’s Cabin, with a new soundtrack by jazz pianist Jason Moran. A talk with Ligon and Moran will follow the performance.
Wed., March 23, 8 p.m., 2011