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Collage of five diverse artworks from the Hammer Museum Collections side by side. From left to right: 1) Contemporary painting of two embracing figures with surreal elements. 2) Post-impressionist style painting of trees with vibrant blues and greens. 3) Black and white illustration of a face with intricate patterns. 4) Japanese woodblock print style image of a figure in a checkered robe. 5) Photograph of a couple dancing, the woman in a black dress and the man in white

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Digital Archive Take It or Leave It: Institution, Image, Ideology
Art Fred Wilson, Slit
Slit, by Fred Wilson, 1995

Fred Wilson, Artist
Slit , 1995

Medium
Color photograph
Dimensions
66 1/2 x 52 1/2 in. (168.9 x 133.4 cm)
Credit Line
© Fred Wilson, courtesy Pace Gallery, New York. Image courtesy of Pace Gallery; photo by Kerry Ryan McFate

Fred Wilson discovered the figurine pictured in this photograph at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts in a stored box of dolls that were broken, damaged, or considered to be no longer appropriate for the museum's program. He singled out the image of the figurine—originally exhibited by Wilson with twenty other photographs in a family tree–like arrangement (a lineage of racism and amnesia)—and enlarged it to reveal a crack along the figure's neck, a symbolic and chance embodiment of the violent effects of history.