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Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Wedding Portrait, 2012

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Wedding Portrait
Artist name
Njideka Akunyili Crosby
Date created
2012
Classification
collage
Medium
acrylic paint, pastel, colored pencil, marble dust, transfers, and custom fabric on paper
Dimensions
63 in. × 54 in. (160.02 cm × 137.16 cm)
Date acquired
2013
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Purchase through a gift of Pamela Joyner in honor of Gary Garrels, Elise S. Haas Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture
Copyright
© Njideka Akunyili
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/2013.9
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

Audio Stories

Akunyili Crosby on painting her own wedding

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transcripts

AKUNYILI CROSBY:  

My name is Njideka Akunyili Crosby. What you’re looking at is a recreation of what happens in a Nigerian traditional wedding.  

 

SFX: traditional Ibo wedding music fades in under next paragraph and rhythmically weaves in between thoughts 

 

CROSBY:  

My husband is a Caucasian American from Texas. So what you’re seeing in this piece is the girl, based on me, kneeling in front of her soon-to-be husband … and you offer him the palm wine. And if he accepts it, you’re married.  

 

SFX: musical break 

 

CROSBY:  

I’m wearing this orange and blue striped dress. But on top of it, I have a wrapper tied around me that has photographs from our engagement photo. And these are called portrait fabrics. And in Nigeria, we have them done for weddings, burials, campaigns. I’m wearing a portrait fabric, because I didn’t have one for my wedding. And since this is a painting and I can invent anything I want, I decided to imagine I did have a portrait fabric and I went ahead and invented this one. 

In my work, there’s often this point of contact between disparate elements. There are areas that are very noisy next to areas that are very quiet. But also thematically, it’s this meeting of two separate cultures. And I think the handoff of the wine, just that moment where it’s my hand in his hand and we’re coming together, just really encapsulates that. 

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