No Woman No Cry by Chris Ofili was created in 1998 after the murder of a London teenager name Stephen Lawrence. Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993 as a result of racism. He was waiting for the bus one night and was stabbed. There were five suspects, but they were never convicted. Ofili was inspired by the bravery of Doreen Lawrence, Stephen’s mother, to expose the truth behind her son’s murder (Google Art Project). Doreen’s pursuit of justice exposed the corruption of the Metropolitan Police and many faults towards the handling of the investigation. Chris Ofili is well known in the art world for his drawings about popular beliefs. He uses many eccentric ways to create his painting such as with elephant dung, glitter, and cutouts (Tate Britain). His inspriations also have a wide variety ranging from cavemen drawings to the hiphop culture.
The woman in the painting represents Doreen Lawrence and the tears she is crying are actually collaged pictures of Stephen Lawrence (Google Art Project). The colors that Ofili uses in the painting are bright and colorful—making the painting almost seem happy, but the dirty yellow with hints of black on her shadow suggest otherwise. The yellow in the picture also brings out the color of Doreen’s skin. By putting vibrant colors around the picture, Doreen’s dark skin seems to stand out more—with the yellow creating a type of angelic aura. Ofili may have purposely used this stark contrast of colors as a way of denouncing racism. By showing Doreen’s color in a positive light, it conveys the sense that Doreen is proud of her race, which sends a strong message of racial acceptance to viewers. Racism is considered as the belief that one race is superior to others. By showing Doreen as being proud of the same racial background that got her son murdered, it shows that she is just as equal to everyone else. Beneath the layers of paint, “RIP, Stephen Lawrence” can be noticed as a tribute to the dead teenager (Google Art Project). Ofili brings out the quiet dignity that Doreen Lawrence has through her raised head and stretched out neck.
Thematically, No Woman, No Cry is similar to Kathe Kollwitz’s Misery because they are both about a mother mourning over her dead child. In Misery, a peasant woman mourns over her dead child as a murder by society while Doreen Lawrence mourns over her dead child as a murder relating to race. Ofili depicts the injustice of racism by using a specific event reference in his drawing. He not only uses Stephen’s pictures as teardrops, but also writes his name onto the painting, making blatant the history behind the painting. No Woman, No Cry is very interesting because Ofili uses only the mourning woman as the main focus of the painting while he makes subtle tributes to Stephen Lawrence. The subtleness of his actions allows viewers to focus more on why the woman in the painting is mourning. She could be mourning over many different things: the death of her son, the failure of the justice system, the racial discrimination that continues to exist. At the same time, Ofili drew this picture as a way to express melancholy and grief universally (Google Art Project). Obviously, a woman in mourning can suggest many different things about the faults of society.
No Woman, No Cry was exhibited at Tate Britain from January-16 May 2010.
No Woman, No Cry was exhibited at Tate Britain from January-16 May 2010.
what does the colour of her dress tell us
ReplyDeletewhat does the colour of her dress tell us
ReplyDeleteRed could refer to blood. Otherwise it is also an angry colour which would be appropriate in the circumstances and motivations surrounding death.
ReplyDelete