Sanford Biggers
‍Selah

• What colors do you notice? What shapes and patterns do you see?
  
• By using antique quilts in his artwork, Biggers encourages us to think about the different ways in which objects hold meaning. How does this insight into the artist’s working method and thoughts help you to make sense of the work?
  

Wrapped in vintage and antique quilts the artist collects, this sculpture‘s protective layers symbolize tradition, care, and history in the making. For Selah, Sanford Biggers partially destroyed and then enlarged a souvenir African tribal figurine raising its arms in prayer. Fittingly, selah, means “forever” or “amen.”

In 2014, Michael Brown, an unarmed Black teenager was killed by police in Ferguson, Missouri. This sculpture also references the rallying cry “hands up, don’t shoot,” heard at Black Lives Matter protests across the country.

• How is the artist connecting past and present issues? What does this artwork teach us about the past? How does it teach us about the future? How do you take inspiration from history? What historical issues can you connect to the present day?
• What role does protest play in a democracy?