
Repurposing Racist Relics: Betye Saar’s ‘Call and Response’ Exhibit Invokes Black Power
Demeaning images of the past—Black mammy figures, minstrel toys and more—are reclaimed and repurposed in the art of Betye Saar. In that object-to-art transformation, they’re given a strength that speaks volumes in the present, particularly now as social injustices involving race and gender grab daily headlines.