Mama has made the bread. 2018

Editor: Amy Sherald’s "Mama has made the bread," from 2018, rendered in acrylic paint, presents this woman almost ethereally, doesn’t it? There’s something incredibly cool and poised about her. The gray skin tone and then the pop of those polka dots is unexpected. What strikes you most about this piece? Curator: For me, it’s the dreamlike quality Sherald evokes, wouldn’t you agree? It’s as if we're peering into a carefully constructed reality, part neo-pop, part Afrofuturism. The gray skin is so striking, defying simple notions of portraiture. Her skin isn't literally gray, yet that choice is so powerful and deliberate in this pink space. What do you think about that striking stylistic choice? Editor: I like that. Dreamlike… that clicks for me. The gray scale against that bubblegum background… it gives her almost an otherworldly presence. And you are right, I read somewhere that she does that intentionally to remove race as the immediate identifier, so we can go deeper as viewers and question why we ascribe such narratives to those of colour. Curator: Exactly! We bring our own history to it. It feels almost allegorical, and like the title, the message might also be interpreted as sustenance in a time where not many things are stable and certain. But there is bread – continuity, the most primary source of living. Editor: That's such a clever insight to consider what *bread* can be. And looking again, there *is* a softness in her gaze... less cool, perhaps, than enduring. Food for thought indeed, ha! Thanks, that's a wonderful perspective. Curator: My pleasure. What a delicious painting to unravel!