Bette and Alison Saar, Artists

Alison Saar

Alison Saar

Alison Saar

Betye  Saar

Sambo's Banjo
1971-72
Mixed-media assemblage
41 x 14 1/2 x 18 in. (banjo case); 6 1/2 x 12 3/4 x 2 3/4 in. (watermelon slice)
Collection California African American Foundation, Photograph by Darryl A. Smith; courtesy California African American Museum

In the 1960s, Betye Saar began collecting images of Aunt Jemima, Uncle Tom, Little Black Sambo, and other stereotyped African-American figures from folk culture and advertising of the Jim Crow era. She incorporated them into collages and assemblages, transforming them into statements of political and social protest.The Liberation of Aunt Jemima is one of her most notable works on this theme. In this mixed-media assemblage, Saar utilizes the stereotypical mammy figure of Aunt Jemima to subvert traditional notions of race and gender.