In the Media: Alison Saar ’78 Exhibits Sculpture, Reimagines Uncle Tom’s Cabin

 

Alison Saar '78,

L.A. Louver, the contemporary art gallery in Venice, CA, is currently displaying a sculpture by Alison Saar ’78, “Grow’d.” The bronze sculpture, created specifically for exhibition in L.A. Louver’s open-air Skyroom, features a female figure seated on a bale of cotton, with branches of cotton extending upward from her hair towards the sky, as reported by BLOUIN ARTINFO. According to L.A. Louver, “The title ‘Grow’d’ makes reference to Saar’s earlier body of work from 2017-18 that centered around the character of Topsy from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin. . . When her new owners inquire about her parents and her concept of God, Topsy bemuse[s]: ‘I spect I grow’d. Don’t think nobody ever made me.’ In this work, Saar revisions Topsy as a grown woman, fully aware of who she is and in control of her destiny. She sits erect, as if on a throne, like a powerful priestess.”

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