FRQ Prep: Prey Mantra & Lying with the Wolf

• Lying with the Wolf

  • By Kiki Smith
  • 2001 CE
  • Ink and pencil on paper
  • One in a series of works that illustrate womens relationship w/ animals
  • Many of Smith's works from this period feature a female protagonist known as "Little Red Riding Hood" and Sainte Genevieve (her close relationship with animals)
  • Based on the subject matter of this work, the female seems to be more representative of Sainte Genevieve - LRRH is depicted as being afraid of the wolf in her fictional story, while Sainte Genevieve is known for being close with animals
• Preying Mantra Pt. 1 (Mutu's Childhood)

  • Grew up in Kenya, Africa
  • She realized black women were not represented in Western television when she was a child
  • She showcases black women throughout her work
  • She uses a lot of classical painting references for poses, she also loves using different categories of photography for collages
  • She refers to her work as "surgical" because of her tedious process in cutting and combining images
  • She "destorys hierarchies" through combining the body with images "from another world"
• Preying Mantra Pt. 2 (The piece itself)

  • A photomontage is overlapping photographs
  • Early inspiration: Hannah Hoch (spliced images) and Romare Bearden (use of collage)
  • Hybridity: Mixing of cultures of colonized people and the colonizers - causes a disruptive understanding of cultural identity
  • She chose to title this work "preying mantra" because the praying mantis can camouflage itself to match its environment