Ebony G. Patterson (Jamaican, born 1981). <em>... three kings weep ...</em>, 2018. Three-channel digital color video installation with sound, 8 minutes 34 seconds Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Committee and purchase gift of Carla Chammas and Judi Roaman, 2019.11. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2019.11_view01_SC.jpg)

Ebony G. Patterson (Jamaican, born 1981). ... three kings weep ..., 2018. Three-channel digital color video installation with sound, 8 minutes 34 seconds Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Committee and purchase gift of Carla Chammas and Judi Roaman, 2019.11. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2019.11_view01_SC.jpg)

DOWNLOAD

... three kings weep ...

Ebony G. Patterson

Contemporary Art

Ebony G. Patterson uses lavish surfaces and verdant motifs to entice viewers to contemplate not only the power of beauty and fashion but also historical and contemporary violence against Black people. In . . . three kings weep . . ., a trio of young men shed tears as they sit silently before a backdrop of floral wallpaper and fluttering artificial butterflies. The videos play backwards, and as a result the initially shirtless men appear to be slowly dressing themselves in colorful clothing with mixed patterns and gleaming jewelry that draws on the styles of dancehall culture and carnival dress. Silence is intermittently interrupted by the voice of a boy reciting “If We Must Die,” a sonnet that Jamaican-born writer Claude McKay published in 1919 after a summer of intense racial terror and resistance across the United States. In the final seconds of the video, as the men’s sartorial performance ends, they proudly crown themselves with a bandana, a bucket hat, and a pair of reflective glasses, respectively. As in McKay’s poem, these three kings are ready to “fight!” for their dignity.

ARTIST Ebony G. Patterson, Jamaican, born 1981

MEDIUM Three-channel digital color video installation with sound, 8 minutes 34 seconds

DATES 2018

COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 2019.11

CREDIT LINE Gift of the Contemporary Art Committee and purchase gift of Carla Chammas and Judi Roaman

EXHIBITIONS

The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

CAPTION Ebony G. Patterson (Jamaican, born 1981). ... three kings weep ..., 2018. Three-channel digital color video installation with sound, 8 minutes 34 seconds Brooklyn Museum, Gift of the Contemporary Art Committee and purchase gift of Carla Chammas and Judi Roaman, 2019.11. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2019.11_view01_SC.jpg)

EDITION Edition: 1/3 (2 AP)

IMAGE screen capture, Timestamp: 08:34, 2019.11_view01_SC.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2020

"CUR" at the beginning of an image file name means that the image was created by a curatorial staff member. These study images may be digital point-and-shoot photographs, when we don\'t yet have high-quality studio photography, or they may be scans of older negatives, slides, or photographic prints, providing historical documentation of the object.

The Brooklyn Museum holds a non-exclusive license to reproduce images of this work of art from the rights holder named here. The Museum does not warrant that the use of this work will not infringe on the rights of third parties. It is your responsibility to determine and satisfy copyright or other use restrictions before copying, transmitting, or making other use of protected items beyond that allowed by "fair use," as such term is understood under the United States Copyright Act. For further information about copyright, we recommend resources at the United States Library of Congress, Cornell University, Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for U.S. Libraries, Archives, and Museums, and Copyright Watch. For more information about the Museum's rights project, including how rights types are assigned, please see our blog posts on copyright. If you have any information regarding this work and rights to it, please contact copyright@brooklynmuseum.org. If you wish to contact the rights holder for this work, please email copyright@brooklynmuseum.org and we will assist if we can.

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.

Collection Menu

... three kings weep ...

Ebony G. Patterson

Contemporary Art

TAGS

TAGS

Collection Menu

... three kings weep ...

Ebony G. Patterson

Contemporary Art

TAGS

TAGS

RELATED OBJECTS