About Artwork

Untitled (Mannequin with Hand Mirror), reflects a typical art historical theme, as seen from Velazquez’s Rokeby Venus to Picasso’s Girl With a Mirror. Narcissister’s version takes the form of a self-portrait where the artist is seen looking into a cracked hand mirror. She wears a red evening dress and matching gloves, with long flowing hair and her trademark mask. Throughout her work she dons masks with vintage wigs, obscuring her face, and therefore, her real self. The obfuscation of her own identity in portraiture, perhaps comparable to Cindy Sherman’s oeuvre, acknowledges feminist artists’ investigation into identity, yet inserts the African-American perspective into this genre. As an artist whose work straddles several media including performance art, installation, photography and video, Narcissister carries on a legacy of feminism and its challenges to the mainstream.