Free, White and 21
Object Label
Speaking directly to the camera, artist Howardena Pindell recounts her experiences of racism and sexism as a Black woman in the United States, before shifting to play the role of a white woman who claims that Pindell is “paranoid.” This groundbreaking video is a critique of both institutionalized racism and the mostly white Feminist Movement at the time. In 1972, Pindell co-founded A.I.R. Gallery, one of the first artist-run spaces for women in the United States, where the film was first shown in Dialectics of Isolation: An Exhibition of Third World Women Artists of the United States, curated by Ana Mendieta in 1980. This intensely personal and political film, whose title comes from a rebellious catchphrase often heard in Hollywood movies of the 1930s and 1940s, was a stark departure from the abstract works on paper for which Pindell was primarily known.
Caption
Howardena Pindell American, born 1943. Free, White and 21, 1980. Single-channel video, color, sound, 12 minutes 15 seconds . Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Garth Greenan, 2020.16. © artist or artist's estate
Gallery
Not on view
Gallery
Not on view
Artist
Title
Free, White and 21
Date
1980
Medium
Single-channel video, color, sound, 12 minutes 15 seconds
Classification
Credit Line
Gift of Garth Greenan
Accession Number
2020.16
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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