Artist
Sheila Crider
Fencing Out Color
Date2018
MediumAbaca and cotton paper pulp, recycled reed fence, silkscreen ink, and acrylic varnish
DimensionsOverall: 26 × 56 in. (66 × 142.2 cm)
Each: 10 × 9 in. (25.4 × 22.9 cm)
Framed Size: 32 × 62 3/4 in. (81.3 × 159.4 cm)
Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection
Object numberDCCAH2020.011.1a-j
ClassificationsPaintings
Locations
- Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (441 4th St NW, 715)
DescriptionThis pulp painting on recycled reed fence, while appearing abstract, contains layers of significance. Crider began her work with the term “whitewashing” in mind. Originally referencing the application of a veneer of lime mixed with water to fences in the summer, the term now commonly refers to obscuring the truth. For Crider, the act of pouring pulp onto pieces of a fence was symbolic of the resurgence in violence toward minorities in the country today, and the ways it has until now been covered up with little consequence, like the rusty parts of the fence still visible just below the surface.