1952 -
Canadian
Afro Soul Catcher
mixed media and wood sculpture
titled and on verso signed, titled, dated 1997 and inscribed "Jesus was born in Africa" / "Sanctify yourself" / "how can he look like Wilem Defoe" / "The God of the oppresor the souls of the oppressed"
30 x 18 x 2 1/2 in, 76.2 x 45.7 x 6.3 cm
Estimate: $2,000 - $3,000 CAD
Sold for: $1,250
Preview at:
PROVENANCE
Private Collection, Vancouver
LITERATURE
Jan Wade: Soul Power, online exhibition in partnership with the Vancouver Art Gallery, Art Canada Institute, https://www.aci-iac.ca/online-exhibitions/jan-wade-soul-power/, accessed May 3, 2022
This piece is a striking example of Jan Wade’s mixed media sculptural practice in which she uses found and reclaimed materials to create narrative objects which remember the histories of the African Diaspora and speak to the Black experience.
The cross is a recurring motif in Wade’s work, most recently culminating in the expansive installation of over one hundred crosses titled Epiphany (1990-2021) at her Vancouver Art Gallery solo show Soul Power (2021-2022). Installed on a sanctified red wall, Wade uses the cross to represent the “ultimate pop icon,” through which she meditates on the complex histories, both political and spiritual, embedded in the symbol. Each cross functions as a standalone artwork with its own story, through which Wade reclaims the religious significance, inventing a device with powers specific to healing the intergenerational trauma caused by the Transatlantic Slave Trades.
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