This piece situates a young black girl astride a colorful big wheel tricycle, front wheel in the air and dust billowing out behind her.
The girl wears a flowing cape, seemingly a blanket tied in a knot round her neck. With the sunglasses and gloves, she adopts the identity of a superhero, donning alongside them a smug expression that relates the sense of power she feels. She is a warrior.
Working in the Ukiyo-E tradition, Brown makes known in the title the canonical model of her piece.
Caption label from exhibit “Floating World,” Images & Literary Sources section: Incomparable Woman Warrior. Yoshitoshi’s (1839-1892) dashing woman warrior is based on the historical figure Han Gaku, who lived around the year 1200. She is considered one of the three woman warriors of Japan, along with Empress Jingû and Tomoe Gozen. She lived in the province of Echigo (present-day Niigata) and fought, unsuccessfully, against the Kamakura shogunate. She was sent to Kamakura for execution but was saved by a warrior who asked for her to be spared and then married her.
The choice of a canonical piece that celebrates a woman warrior allows for Brown’s piece to foster a more complex relationship with the canon. Brown’s homage affirms the uplift of women, reiterating that aspect in her own work. The woman here is placed on a pedestal of a horse, and in Brown’s piece, a young black girl is in the seat of power as she rides her tricycle. Still, however, it contends with the same issues of representation by reinterpreting the patterns, the text, and the circumstances of the subject in ways that are affirming of the identity and experience of a young black girl.
This young girl is a warrior, too, like Han Gaku before her. She isn’t a 13th century samurai, however. She is a superhero, with a cape knit from AAVE and a big wheel trike for a steed.
References
Kita, Sandy. n.d. “Hangakujo.” Library of Congress. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002700059/.
“Yoshitoshi: Spirit and Spectacle.” n.d. Philadelphia Museum of Art. Accessed April 22, 2022. https://philamuseum.org/calendar/exhibition/yoshitoshi-spirit-and-spectacle.
