Artworks

15 Mouths, 2002

  • Artist

    Lorna Simpson

  • Title

    15 Mouths

  • Date

    2002

  • Medium

    Fifteen Iris prints on velour paper mounted on Hahnemuhle copperplate paper with letterpress text on each page (individually framed)

  • Dimensions

    Each: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm) Frame: 12 1/8 × 10 1/8 × 1 1/2 in. (30.8 × 25.7 × 3.8 cm)

  • Edition

    Ed. 38/40 with 10 APs

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Acquisition Committee

  • Object Number

    2002.10.9a-o

Many of Lorna Simpson’s early works, which combine photographic image and text, complicate and subvert viewer’s expectations. 15 Mouths features diverse, closely cropped images of mouths, accompanied by texts ranging from tactile adjectives such as “sumptuous” and “meaty” to poetic descriptions such as “a voice that darkened with age.” The work explores how assumptions about a person’s character can be based on physical attributes and differences, and challenges the human instinct to categorize people.


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Artworks

15 Mouths, 2002

  • Artist

    Lorna Simpson

  • Title

    15 Mouths

  • Date

    2002

  • Medium

    Fifteen Iris prints on velour paper mounted on Hahnemuhle copperplate paper with letterpress text on each page (individually framed)

  • Dimensions

    Each: 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.3 cm) Frame: 12 1/8 × 10 1/8 × 1 1/2 in. (30.8 × 25.7 × 3.8 cm)

  • Edition

    Ed. 38/40 with 10 APs

  • Credit line

    The Studio Museum in Harlem; Museum purchase with funds provided by the Acquisition Committee

  • Object Number

    2002.10.9a-o

Many of Lorna Simpson’s early works, which combine photographic image and text, complicate and subvert viewer’s expectations. 15 Mouths features diverse, closely cropped images of mouths, accompanied by texts ranging from tactile adjectives such as “sumptuous” and “meaty” to poetic descriptions such as “a voice that darkened with age.” The work explores how assumptions about a person’s character can be based on physical attributes and differences, and challenges the human instinct to categorize people.


Explore further