Artist Cheryl Edwards (American, b, 1954)

Discernment

Date2023

MediumPulp painting

Dimensions40 x 27 in. (101.6 x 68.6 cm)

Credit LineDC Commission on the Arts and Humanities Art Bank Collection

Object numberDCCAH2025.011

ClassificationsPaintings

Locations

Currently Not on View

DescriptionAfter traveling to Egypt in 1987 and South Africa in 1995, Edwards’ began a several decades long exploration of African Dolls, in particular the South African Ndebele doll and the Egyptian Paddle doll. In Discernment, Edwards depicts a Paddle Doll adorned with a range of symbols and iconography such as the Egyptian Eye of Horus, birds, and fish. With mythological ties to fertility, protection, and feminine sexuality, Edwards believes that Paddle dolls can act as hosts of the sacredness of life, imbued with the power of feminine identity and precolonial knowledge. This pulp painting was produced through a papermaking process using cotton and linen and was part of an exhibit entitled ‘Eternal Paper’ curated by Helen Frederick at the University of Maryland Global College in 2023. The exhibition then traveled to the Paper Academy in Denmark in 2024.