Analysis Of Past Times By Kerry James Marshall

Art addresses the imbalance of power by comparing and contrasting the different settings that each race, primarily black and whites, and genders are used to be seen with, and how these stereotypes affect the way a person is viewed.
African-Americans are often associated with sketchy and dangerous neighborhoods and spending their time getting into trouble while white people are portrayed as living in wealthy neighborhoods that have an extremely low crime rate. These stereotypes are addressed in Past Times by Kerry James Marshall where black women, men, and children are depicted engaging in conventionally white activities like playing golf and croquet, water skiing, and motorboating which reveals the lack of black representation in art. By using
Ruby Bridges breaks the status quo of the separation of schools for white and colored children by attending a school for whites but not everyone, especially whites, agreed with this decision. Due to this, Ruby Bridges had to be protected from the abuses that came from her white schoolmates and their parents. This historical event is depicted in Norman Rockwell’s painting The Problem We All Live With where Ruby Bridges’ location is predominantly white and secluded to blacks due to the derogatory “n-” word being painted on the wall beside her. As a young black girl in an unfamiliar setting, she would be expected to be closed off to the society that tries to harm her and cower in their presence, but she is not fazed by the change and holds her head up high and walks with confidence with her arms by her side instead of folded over her body ignoring what’s going on around her and looking forward to the better future where she will be accepted by society and seen as equal to a white
For this to occur, one individual has to give up some of their power for the other individual. An example of this is in Ana Mendieta’s Untitled (Beard Piece) where a man is seen cutting off his beard to give to a woman. In the first of three pictures, the woman is viewed as petite and smaller than the man since she is seated while the man is hunched over her, asserting his dominance, showing that in this scene there is an imbalance of power such that the man is superior over the woman. But as the scenes roll out, the woman and man become more equal due to the transplant of facial hair and the rejection of femininity through the woman taking off her earring. In the second picture, the process of the exchange of power is occurring as the man cuts off pieces of his beard to give to the woman so she can look more like him in his masculinity and go against the norm for women. And in the final scene, the woman and man are now equal in appearance since the man has crouched down to be at the same level as her and they are both bearded individuals. This exchange of power alters the roles and expectations of each gender and questions the stereotypes of both men and