- Bessie Live
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During her childhood, Amalia Amaki would listen to blues
vocalists such as Bessie Smith with her family. Amaki describes Smith’s
“naturally raw God-given voice” as one of the two touchstones for her childhood;
the other was buttons. Her mother, in an attempt to dissuade Amaki from her
tomboy ways, started a button collection for her. Together, those elements defined
Amaki’s upbringing and eventually became her artistic signature. In Bessie
Live, the blues singer is rendered in a cyanotype on cotton fabric,
surrounded by buttons. These personal and tactile items signal the artist’s intimate
connection to this public figure.
Provenance Research Ongoing Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil & black ink, lower left corner: Bessie, Live!
Cataloguing data may change with further research.
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