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Iona Rozeal Brown’s work departs from the conventions of Ukiyo-e prints and the signs of hip hop culture. Recognizable brand names such as Burberry, Adidas, Crystal Champagne, as well as hairstyles and gestures, are taken from their original context and transposed within the visual language of the Japanese prints of the 19th century. Brown’s work departs from the global phenomenon that Hip Hop has become. She addresses this fact not as merely musical but more significantly as cultural. The underlying question in her work seems to be ‘What happens to Black culture if it is no longer black?’ Simultaneously she confronts the very contemporary potential of the mutability of individual identification and outdated ideas about race and culture.

The use of blackface to cover not an implied whiteness, a gesture both derisive and mocking, but an Asian face subverts the meaning while removing the mean-ness. Instead, it seems she works toward a sense of dialogue and interchange wherein her characters –DJ’s, Rappers, Gangsters, etc.- become a new hybrid, neither exclusively Japanese nor Black. The third space, between and outside these two historically recognized sites, is in many ways the defining genre of the new millennium. As a people we no longer define ourselves as American, Asian or Black, but as African-American, Asian-American and any other number of hyphenated selves.

Iona Rozeal Brown's Gallery

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[ Nikki S. Lee ] [ Iona Rozeal Brown ] [ Ukiyo-e ]