Peter Brathwaite: Rediscovering Black Portraiture

Peter Brathwaite è un baritono inglese che ama reinterpretare le opere d’arte con protagonisti uomini e donne afro-discendenti. Tutto è nato da una challenge lanciata dal Getty Museum durante il lockdown: riprodurre dei quadri usando il materiale presente in casa. Col tempo la sfida è diventata un libro, Rediscovering Black Portraiture, il cui messaggio è sintetizzato efficacemente dallo stesso Brathwaite: “Immagino una tela finalmente imbevuta di giustizia“.

Detail of Bisa Butler’s Africa The Land Of Hope and Promise For Negro People's of the World (2019), a quilted portrait of Emmett J. Scott. Braithwaite’s recreation is made with face paints and African wax fabric offcuts. Courtesy of Peter Brathwaite.

Africa The Land Of Hope and Promise For Negro Peoples of the World di Lisa Butler

The Virgin of Guadalupe (1745) by an anonymous artist. After the statue of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Extremadura, western Spain. Braithwaite has made his reconstruction with his grandmother’s patchwork quilt, grandfather’s cou cou stick, tinsel and Barbados doll. Courtesy of Peter Braithwaite.

La vergine di Guadalupe

Detail of Édouard Manet’s Olympia (1865). Here, Braithwaite focuses on Laure, the Black model in the image, known for her work with Manet. He has reworked his images with lilies, roses, and a selection of family history documents. Courtesy of Peter Braithwaite.