True believer

Maker and role
Artist: Deborah Roberts, American, born 1962
Year
2020
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Object detail

Media/Materials
Collage on canvas
Measurements
65 x 45in (165.1 x 114.3cm)
Credit line
Museum purchase with the Helen and Everett H. Jones Purchase Fund
Accession number
2021.43
Object type
Department
Further information
"Each child has character and agency to find their own way amidst the complicated narratives of American, African American, and art history."
–Deborah Roberts

In True believer, Deborah Roberts uses collage to confront the racial stereotypes faced by young Black children in America. Roberts takes a contemporary approach to portraiture with layers of hand drawn and painted details, photographs, and magazine clippings combined with emotional layers of vulnerability, confidence, and playfulness. Depicted in colorful patterns symbolic of reclaimed innocence, the young girl looks directly at the viewer in this complex portrait of race and identity.
Subject period

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