Hollywood: true or false?
Sonia Boyce In Focus
Sonia Boyce, Tate Collection and further afield

Researching the context within which a work was produced (for example the political climate, social history and culture of the time) will tell us more. It is also interesting to place the work within the context of the artist's career. Sonia Boyce's work is part of an In Focus display, and it is illuminating to consider the work within the context of this display. Similarly, Boyce's concerns about self- and constructed image are shared by artists throughout western culture. These different contexts are explored in three separate sections here.

Hollywood: true or false?

From Tarzan to Rambo was made in 1987, and one of its themes is the lack of a black presence within the Hollywood star system. It is also particularly about the absence of black women as positive role models. As Boyce has pointed out, despite being surrounded by black women in various states of undress Tarzan is only ever attracted to Jane, a white woman who, like himself, should not really be in this part of the world - the existence of the black women is effectively denied.

The absence of powerful black women in Hollywood - either in terms of characters portrayed, star status, or financial success, is also one of the themes of The Fae Richards Archive by Zoe Leonard and Cheryl Dunye. This started life when Dunye, a filmmaker, made a fictional documentary about Fae Richards, a black actress she had invented, and used photographs by Leonard as part of the visual evidence about the life of this imaginary character. The photographic and other documentation which was created has been put together to make up the Archive. Fae Richards's career as presented in the archive realistically portrays the options facing black performers in the US before the second World War: from cabaret artiste, to the role of servant within Hollywood movies, to starring roles within the black movie industry. The existence of this specialist industry, which created movies by black people for black audiences is not so so well known in the UK.

Discussion Points

• From Tarzan to Rambo and The Fae Richards Archive have similar themes. In what ways do they differ? (Boyce comments on the lack of female presence, Leonard and Dunye create one as if to compensate)

• Do the works look at all similar?

• Is there anything in the technique which is the same? (perhaps the use of photography)

• Why is the use of photography important? (perhaps because we tend to accept photographs as being 'true', or as being reliable evidence)

• Which shows a wider range of characterisation?

• Do the characters played by the fictional character Fae Richards seem more or less stereotyped than the images used by Sonia Boyce?

• To what extent are both works about performance and playing up to expectations?

• While there has been a relatively small black presence in film for most of its history is that still true today?

You might wish to consider the following facts:

• It was only in 2002, fifteen years after Boyce made From Tarzan to Rambo, that Halle Berry became the first black actress to win an American Academy Award (Oscar), as Best Actress in a film. This is what she said:

On the same night Denzel Washington became only the second black man to win the award for Best Actor, nearly forty years after the first, Sidney Poitier in 1963. In its 74 year history only five black actors (including Washington in 1990) have won the award for best supporting actor.

See the BBC article which reports the 2002 Oscars, with a photo of Berry and Washington.

Of the actresses who Berry mentioned Lena Horne was one of the few black actresses to have some degree of success during the period of the Tarzan films. In 1942 she was the first black actress to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio - MGM - in over 30 years. As part of her contract she stipulated that she would not appear in stereotypical 'black' roles.

See a painting of Lena Horne by Edward Biberman in the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington which is currently exhibited in Americans at the National Portrait Gallery, London until 12 January 2003

Sonia Boyce In Focus

From Tarzan to Rambo is part of an In Focus display in which all of the works are concerned with issues of race and colour. Her work was built up from black and white photos of which another black and white photo was made. We tend to use the term 'black and white' to imply a situation where everything is clear-cut - there are no 'grey areas' - and we also refer to 'black' and 'white' people. But of course things are by no means so straightforward. For one, 'black' people are not actually 'black', nor are 'white' people 'white', and, perhaps as one way of pointing to the complexity of the terminology, Boyce uses both the basic 'black and white' and also different colours. Notice how the line drawing of Tarzan has been all but eradicated by white and pink paint, whereas the images of Boyce on the right hand side of the image have been coloured with brownish paints.

Two works in the display are concerned with artificially changing colour - compare From Tarzan and Rambo to Anna Fox's Zwarte Piet and Anthea Hamilton's Somewhere over the Rainbow.

Discussion points

• In what ways are these two works similar/dissimilar to Boyce's work?

• Does either of them deal with the idea of film?

• Do the people who feature in each work look naturally black or white, or is it obvious that their colour has changed?

• Do we respond to them any differently because of this?

• Why do the Dutch people in Zwarte Piet want to be black? (it may help to look up the caption for this work)

• Why would Anthea Hamilton want to show herself differently? (again, the caption may help) It is important to stress that Hamilton does not precisely make herself white, but she has changed to some other state in negative, which suggests white. There should always be an ambiguity about this.

• What is the most important feature of a rainbow? (you could think about the range of colours - all of the spectrum together, for example - or the fact that the rainbow has often been used in art as a symbol of optimism)

• Why do you think she chose to sing this song? (For one thing, it is a melancholy a song about an ideal world, 'a land that I dreamt of', which could have implications of acceptance or harmony. Also, the film in which it first appeared, The Wizard of Oz, is also very much about 'finding oneself' - realising your place in the world and achieving a more positive self-image...)

• Would you respond to people differently if they were a different colour?

You might wish to look up the Commission for Racial Equality's advertising campaign 'Would I...' in which the race and colour of a number of celebrities, from Mel B to Ken Livingstone, was digitally altered to see if our reaction to them would change.

Sonia Boyce, Tate Collection and further afield

Although Sonia Boyce's work is responding to her own particular circumstances and situation, it shares interests which are common to many artists represented both in the Tate Collection and elsewhere. Further information on these works can be found by clicking on the links.

Discussion points

Tate:
• How does Boyce's work compare to F.N. Souza's Crucifixion (1959) Does his depiction of a black Christ have any parallels in her observations about depiction of black people in film? (perhaps this is related to who the 'stories' are told by, and for whom...)

• There is a visual relationship between From Tarzan to Rambo and Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych (1962). Is there any similarity in the ideas they convey? Do you think Warhol's use of colour has any 'political' message, or is it just designed to 'look good'? (unfortunately there is no image of this on the website due to copyright restrictions - but you may be able to locate it elsewhere)

• How does Peter Blake see himself in his Self-Portrait with Badges (1961) and how does that differ from Sonia Boyce's 'interests'? (Blake and Boyce are both listed as source materials for the QCA Key Stage Three Scheme of Work Unit 7a - 'Self-image')

• How does this compare with the self-image of John Coplans in his Self-Portrait (Torso, Front) 1984.

Elsewhere:
You could look at the way numerous artists have portrayed themselves - for example, consider the way in which Elizabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun depicted herself as one of the very few successful women artists of the 18th century - see Elizabeth Louise Vigée-LeBrun on the National Gallery's website you could also look at the self-portraits of Rembrandt, Murillo and Salvator Rosa.