Janine Antoni

I speak up, 2019

Mixed media gilded with 24 karat gold leaf

21 x 18 1/8 x 2 3/8 inches (53.34 x 46.04 x 6.03 cm)

Commissioned by The Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, NY.

© Janine Antoni; Courtesy of the artist, Luhring Augustine, New York, and Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco
Photo: Christopher Burke

What at first appears to be the artist's own hand held up against her throat reveals itself to be a younger hand. The daughter's touch leaves a trace of gold on her mother's neck. As the mother looks to the heavens, she leaves her neck vulnerable, exposing the passageway where breath becomes voice. The daughter's hand adorns the neck, reminding her mother, through touch, to speak her truth. Bringing the center to the outside, the vertebrae of the neck and the bones of the fingers are impressed, dragged, and cast. The hole of the absent spinal cord, within the vertebrae, extrudes what is in its path. Gilded Gothic arches further accentuate the gaze and what lies above and beyond the bony frame. 

“My mother was a real peacekeeper. It took a lot for her to speak her mind. It is particularly true of the women of her generation. I have been given much more of a voice than her, and I can already see that my daughter is speaking her mind more freely than I am. We still have much further to go. [There are many voices that still need to be heard.]”

--Grrrh Magazine 2019

“In my softness, I touch my purpose. In my throat, my words sharpen. I look to the light. I wait to be heard.”

“I speak up” was a part of “I am fertile ground” at Green-Wood Cemetery.