{"data":{"id":193320,"api_model":"artworks","api_link":"https:\/\/api.artic.edu\/api\/v1\/artworks\/193320","is_boosted":false,"title":"Africa Restored (Cheryl as Cleopatra)","alt_titles":null,"thumbnail":{"lqip":"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhBAAFAPQAAHBsZHZvZ350ZZiRiKGdlqaim7yvmruvnL2wnL2xnsTDv8nIwtPRzNTRzdbV0NXV1NvZ1tjY2N3d2tzc3AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACH5BAAAAAAALAAAAAAEAAUAAAURYLQ4kyIMDwMEjVQQUGIkRwgAOw==","width":10603,"height":14139,"alt_text":"Large black sculpture in the shape of Africa. The form is covered in gold chains, circular photographs or \"medallions\" depicting prominent African American figures, and other images and text. The sculpture hangs on a white wall. \n\""},"main_reference_number":"2008.87","has_not_been_viewed_much":false,"boost_rank":null,"date_start":2003,"date_end":5000001,"date_display":"2003-ongoing","date_qualifier_title":"","date_qualifier_id":null,"artist_display":"Kerry James Marshall\nAmerican, born 1955","place_of_origin":"United States","description":"<p>Kerry James Marshall describes <em>Africa Restored (Cheryl as Cleopatra)<\/em> as \u201cthe shape of Africa reconfigured as a cubist sculpture.\u201d Reversing art-historical narratives of modernist painting\u2019s appropriation of African sculpture, it offers a complex meditation on African ancestry and black aesthetics. Africa Restored formally references the nkisi nkondi, or power figures, of the Democratic Republic of Congo. These sculptures were crafted as basic armatures into which accretions of metals, mirrors, and nails were driven to activate their force.<\/p> <p>Affixed to the sculpture are \u201cmedallions,\u201d or \u201cicons,\u201d in the form of photographic images and texts laminated in plastic that refer to both prominent and lesser-known figures within the black freedom movement in America as well as to Egyptian iconographies adopted by African Americans in the 1970s as a way to challenge dominant Western worldviews. In producing his speculative history of Africa and its diaspora, Marshall also casts his contemporaries as stars in his constellation of references\u2014for example, the artist\u2019s wife, artist and actor Cheryl Lynn Bruce, performs as Cleopatra. Notably, Marshall adds new elements each time the sculpture goes on view, including for this current presentation. Thus, the work can be seen as an unfinished, living sculpture\u2014open to continued revision by the artist.<\/p>\n","short_description":"Kerry James Marshall describes this work as \u201cthe shape of Africa reconfigured as a cubist sculpture.\u201d The attached laminated images and texts refer to figures within the black freedom movement in America as well as to Egyptian iconographies championed by African Americans in the 1970s. Marshall adds new elements each time the sculpture goes on view, treating it as a living and continually evolving work.","dimensions":"203.3 \u00d7 144.8 \u00d7 88.9 cm (80 \u00d7 57 \u00d7 35 in.)","dimensions_detail":[{"depth":88,"width":144,"height":203,"diameter":null,"clarification":null}],"medium_display":"Polystyrene and latex on plywood, with ink-jet prints mounted in laminated acrylic","inscriptions":null,"credit_line":"Gift of Susan and Lewis Manilow","catalogue_display":null,"publication_history":"Elizabeth A. T. Smith and Tricia Van Eck, Kerry James Marshall: One True Thing: Meditations on Black Aesthetics, exh. cat. (Chicago: Museum of Contemporary Art, 2003), 12 (ill.), xxiv (color ill.), lxvii.\n\nMatthew S. Witkovsky et al., \"The Art Institute of Chicago Field Guide to Photography and Media,\" eds. Antawan I. Byrd, Elizabeth Siegel, and Carl Fuldner, pl. 122, p. 137 (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2023).\n\nJoseph L. Underwood, \"A Pan-African Blockbuster Portrays the Continent as a Monolith,\" Art in America, March 27, 2025, Online, (color ill.), https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-in-america\/aia-reviews\/project-black-planet-panafrica-chicago-barcelona-brussels-1234736805\/\n\nBenjamin Buchloh, Aria Dean, Darby English, Mark Godfrey, Madeleine Grynsztejn, Cath\u00e9rine Hug, Nikita Sena Quarshie, and Rebecca Zorach, Kerry James Marshall: The Histories, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2025), 16, 17, fig. 7 (color ill.), 87 (color ill.), 89-90, fig. 38, 92, 94 (color ill.), 95, fig. 38, 122, 212.  \n\nBenjamin D. Buchloh, \"Radical Pragmatism: A Conversation with Kerry James Marshall,\" October 194 (Fall 2025): 76, 77 (ill.), 79.","exhibition_history":"Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art, One True Thing: Meditations on Black Aesthetics, Oct. 25, 2003 -Jan. 18, 2004, no cat. no.; Miami, Miami Art Museum, Feb. 6, 2004-Apr. 25, 2004; Baltimore, Baltimore Museum of Art, June 20, 2004-Sept. 5, 2004; New York City, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Oct. 13, 2004-Jan. 9, 2005, Birmingham, Birmingham Museum of Art, Feb. 3, 2005-Apr. 24, 2005.","provenance_text":null,"edition":null,"publishing_verification_level":"Web Cataloged","internal_department_id":246,"fiscal_year":2008,"fiscal_year_deaccession":null,"is_public_domain":false,"is_zoomable":true,"max_zoom_window_size":-1,"copyright_notice":null,"has_multimedia_resources":false,"has_educational_resources":false,"has_advanced_imaging":false,"colorfulness":0,"color":{"h":53,"l":46,"s":72,"percentage":1.7343066609175735e-5,"population":26},"latitude":null,"longitude":null,"latlon":null,"is_on_view":false,"on_loan_display":null,"gallery_title":null,"gallery_id":null,"nomisma_id":null,"artwork_type_title":"Sculpture","artwork_type_id":3,"department_title":"Contemporary Art","department_id":"PC-8","artist_id":47905,"artist_title":"Kerry James Marshall","alt_artist_ids":[],"artist_ids":[47905],"artist_titles":["Kerry James Marshall"],"category_ids":["PC-8","PC-830","PC-154","PC-142","PC-109","PC-836"],"category_titles":["Contemporary Art","African Diaspora","Chicago Artists","African American artists","Art Institute Icons","Contemporary works by BIPOC artists, summer 2021"],"term_titles":["sculpture","paper (fiber product)","21st Century","sculptures","Chicago","photography"],"style_id":"TM-12913","style_title":"21st Century","alt_style_ids":[],"style_ids":["TM-12913"],"style_titles":["21st Century"],"classification_id":"TM-13","classification_title":"sculpture","alt_classification_ids":[],"classification_ids":["TM-13"],"classification_titles":["sculpture"],"subject_id":"TM-12588","alt_subject_ids":["TM-12075","TM-8578"],"subject_ids":["TM-12588","TM-12075","TM-8578"],"subject_titles":["sculptures","Chicago","photography"],"material_id":"TM-2982","alt_material_ids":[],"material_ids":["TM-2982"],"material_titles":["paper (fiber product)"],"technique_id":null,"alt_technique_ids":[],"technique_ids":[],"technique_titles":[],"theme_titles":["African Diaspora","Chicago Artists","African American artists","Art Institute Icons","Contemporary works by BIPOC artists, summer 2021"],"image_id":"3b92784e-0194-e892-c621-2084ed6facbc","alt_image_ids":["4fae8d24-b2d1-38a6-ff42-df423588adc9","89a10cb5-6d3e-0864-96de-c390c0bd3288"],"document_ids":[],"sound_ids":[],"video_ids":[],"text_ids":[],"section_ids":[],"section_titles":[],"site_ids":[],"suggest_autocomplete_all":[{"input":["2008.87"],"contexts":{"groupings":["accession"]}},{"input":["Africa Restored (Cheryl as Cleopatra)"],"weight":1553,"contexts":{"groupings":["title"]}}],"source_updated_at":"2026-06-17T14:50:34-05:00","updated_at":"2026-06-28T23:24:47-05:00","timestamp":"2026-07-12T01:55:05-05:00"},"info":{"license_text":"The `description` field in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Generic License (CC-By) and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu. All other data in this response is licensed under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) 1.0 designation and the Terms and Conditions of artic.edu.","license_links":["https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/publicdomain\/zero\/1.0\/","https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/terms"],"version":"1.14"},"config":{"iiif_url":"https:\/\/www.artic.edu\/iiif\/2","website_url":"http:\/\/www.artic.edu"}}