Toned gelatin silver print, with Prestype and frame, 1989. 779x781 mm; 30 5/8x30 3/4 inches, including the frame. Edition of 3. From the Colored People series.
Provenance: the artist, New York; P.P.O.W., New York; private collection, New York.
High Yella Girl is a significant and very scarce work from the artist's important 1988-89 series. Weems focuses on the cultural emphasis that has been placed on African Americans' skin color and the divisions it causes. This idea is further developed with Weems' use of a bright yellow tone - it highlights how our perceptions of color and race are conditioned by artificial standards. The artist printed another edition of 5 in 1997.
