Tenderheaded & Heavyhanded, from the portfolio Continuum, published by Black Women of Print, 2019 (published 2020), Angela Pilgrim. Risograph and decorative paper collage (expanded on visual elements utilized by Emma Amos). Getty Research Institute, 2022.PR.1 © Angela Pilgrim

Angela Pilgrim’s Tenderheaded & Heavyhanded pays tribute to Amos, whose diptych Classic and Universal recently entered the GRI’s collection. Making reference to the patterned border in Amos’s painting Memory from 2012, Pilgrim collages strips of decorative paper to frame her risograph, a digital printmaking technique that produces a visual effect similar to screen print. Within this frame, two Black women are portrayed in a sequence of changing attitudes and expressions. Their natural hairstyles contrast with the straightened hair of the woman whose picture is displayed on a table at the upper left. Enlivened with brightly colored price tags and graphic hearts, an elusive yet compelling narrative unfolds and draws the viewer in. Pilgrim’s print illustrates her larger interest in creating art that addresses “the Black women experience in America as well as the relation of Black Hair to beauty.”

The portfolio’s seven prints are housed in a custom clamshell box covered in an iridescent twill fabric. Changing color from blue to black to purple, depending on the light, the box prepares the viewer for a captivating sensory experience. “Art is meant to be moving, shared, and talked about by an inclusive audience of people,” says Diuguid. In presenting this portfolio to researchers and the public, the GRI hopes to inspire audiences to create dynamic conversations centered around the history and future of Black women artists and their work.