Daughter of Wakanda 

Stanley Artgerm Lau made this digital artwork, Daughter of Wakanda, in the 21st century. This portrait of a Black woman is styled after a comic book cover. The woman is adorned with regal African-inspired jewelry and surrounded by swirling strokes which may represent birds. As an image created in the present day, it makes reference to a fictional Marvel Comics country, Wakanda, as seen in the Black Panther movie. The artist is playing with an imagined African identity that is heavily mediated by the entertainment industry. What is it about the comic book genre that allows for such a complex and charged cultural representation? In order to understand this work better, one might research the history of comic books, paying particular attention to the Black Panther series, as well as tracing the critical reception of the Black Panther movie, focusing on the way it portrays African identity. The meaning of any artwork is tied to the cultural and institutional context that surrounds it.