Baby Naming Ceremony 1990

Twins Seven Seven made this drawing, Baby Naming Ceremony, using colored inks, in 1990. The lines are bold, snaking through the image to define the figures and shapes of the village. Each part of the scene is so richly patterned, you feel like you could reach out and touch the textures. I love how the hands are drawn, exaggerated and open. They hold instruments and support the baby, each line in the drawing feels like a gesture of care. If you look closely at the figure on the left you can see how the different lines that make up his patterned shirt are all different colors. It feels so joyful. The colors are layered, but they don't muddy the image, instead, they build up these vibrant, almost musical rhythms. This kind of layering reminds me of work by Etel Adnan, another artist who celebrated color. But where Adnan used oil paint, Seven Seven chose ink, making marks that are sharp, like sounds. Art always finds a way to keep talking to itself, doesn't it?