Files
Download Full Text (3.7 MB)
Publication Date
12-1-2022
Description
Entry for the 9th Annual Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest. Opening Reception Thursday, March 02, 2023, Fleet Library, Main Reading Room. Juror: Andre Lee Bassuet.
Keywords
artists' books; Baker & Whitehill
Disciplines
Book and Paper
Student Status
MFA
Year of Graduation
2023
Major
Graphic Design
Faculty / Course
Co-made for Rachel Berwick, Alchemy and Bethany Johns, Thesis I
Materials + Techniques
Leather Bound, cord sewn book with gold leafing, and hand painted/digitally printed illuminations.
Student Narrative
Black gold is an alchemical text and compilation of essays, readings and images exploring the commodification of black bodies through art history. Starting with Rembrandts Africans and moving through time to the present rise of blackface in digital avatars, the book compresses time and style as a form of commentary on the ubiquity of the practice of black commodification. In a nod to its alchemical references, the book contains hand mix gold pigments, applied to pages in the form of illuminations.
Photo Credit
Hannah Nigro, PH 2025
Recommended Citation
Oughton, Jenni; Collections, Special; and Library, Fleet, "Black Gold" (2022). 9th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2023. 63.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/specialcollections_bookcontest9th2023/63