© Nick Cave
Soundsuit,
2013
Nick Cave, born 1959, Fulton, MO; active Chicago, IL
2021-261
A sculptor, choreographer, and dancer, Cave has created more than five hundred Soundsuits, objects that, in the artist’s words, “hide gender, race, and class and . . . force you to look at the work without judgment.” Cave conceived the series in response to the 1991 beating of Rodney King by the Los Angeles police. Both a performance costume and symbolic armor, the work reflects on the possibility of shielding oneself from violence against racialized and gendered bodies. Evoking Yorùbá egúngún masquerade dance costumes and such Christian liturgical regalia as a bishop’s mitre—both emblems of power and protection that amplify the body and situate it within the realm of ceremony—Soundsuit explores the shaping and obscuring of identity through the ritual of dress.
Information
Title
Soundsuit
Dates
2013
Maker
Medium
Mixed media including fabric, crochet blanket, doilies, sequins, and mannequin
Dimensions
251.5 × 66 × 45.7 cm (99 × 26 × 18 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Joshua R. Slocum, Class of 1998, and Sara T. Slocum
Object Number
2021-261
Place Made
United States, Illinois, Chicago
Culture
Type
Materials
Techniques
Subject
[Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, New York], sold; to Joshua R. Slocum and Sara Slocum, Katonah, New York, gift; to Princeton University Art Museum, 2021.
