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'Five', 1991
by Lubaina Himid
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Two black women with short or
corn-row hair and sad faces sit at a table. One
leans back, her right hand raised with its palm
outstretched as she points to a plate of food on
the table with the index finger of her left hand.
The other woman leans forward, her right hand close
to another plate. They appear to be discussing something
intensely, perhaps arguing.
Although clearly a picture of two people talking,
'Five' has not been painted in a realistic style.
The use of strong colours, simple shapes and a flattened
table, so that it is easy to see everything on it,
are part of a bigger story. On the table are two
plates of food, a jug, a vase of strange-looking
flowers, a fork, and a sugar bowl with a dotted
line across its blue glaze. The food on one plate
resembles the shape of the African continent, while
the yellow and red/white food on the other looks
like the stars and stripes of the American flag.
By juxtaposing Africa with the American stars and
stripes and then linking both with a dotted line
to the sugar bowl the artist alludes to the transatlantic
slave trade.
The British painter Lubaina Himid (born 1954) has
said that 'Five' - along with another work in her
Revenge series, 'Between the Two My Heart is Balanced'
(1991; Tate) - is rare in western painting because
it shows 'two black women in the same frame who
have equal status, obviously engaged in debate and
will keep talking as long as it takes to reach a
solution'. Made in 1991, 'Five' marks an anniversary
in the history of slavery. The abduction, transportation
and selling of African peoples to provide labour
for plantations in America, the Caribbean and Brazil
is at the heart of the discussion between the two
women. In this act of remembering the story of African
slavery is a demand that it never happen again.
The woman's raised hand communicates a clear message:
stop.
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© Leeds Museums and galleries
(City Art Gallery) U.K./the artist.
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