{"data":{"id":"7778","type":"artwork","attributes":{"id":7778,"topgoose_id":3541,"portfolio_id":null,"tms_id":7778,"title":"2 Tracks","display_artist_text":"Lorna Simpson","display_date":"1990","accession_number":"91.59.4a-e","dimensions":"Overall: 48 7/8 × 62 9/16 × 1 11/16 in. (124.1 × 158.9 × 4.3 cm)","medium":"Three gelatin silver prints with frames and two plastic plaques","department":"collection","classification":"Photographs","credit_line":"Gift of Raymond J. Learsy and Gabriella De Ferrari","is_virtual":false,"is_portfolio":false,"portfolio_tms_id":null,"portfolio":null,"edition":"4/4","publication_info":"","description":"\u003cp\u003eLorna Simpson, \u003cem\u003e2 Tracks\u003c/em\u003e, 1990. Three gelatin silver prints with frames and two plastic plaques, overall: 48 7/8 × 62 9/16 × 1 11/16 in. (124.1 × 158.9 × 4.3 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; gift of Raymond J. Learsy and Gabriella De Ferrari 91.59.4a-e. © Lorna Simpson\u003c/p\u003e","object_label":"\u003cp\u003eLorna Simpson’s staged photographs combine image and text, generating meaning indirectly through word play and addressing questions of identity yet refusing to take any straightforward position on race, class, or gender. \u003ci\u003e2 Tracks\u003c/i\u003e is an anonymous portrait; in a technique Simpson has used in much of her work, its closely shorn, female subject faces away from the camera. The photograph is flanked on either side by an image of a single black braid. Two accompanying plaques, reading “back” and “track” have multiple valences, alluding at once to the photographs’ literal subjects, general ideas of progress and struggle, and the specific themes of racism and regression. Deftly eluding a simplistic historical reading, Simpson’s work instead prompts the viewer to fill in the gaps between text and image. As in the tradition of Conceptual art from which the artist emerges, viewers are encouraged to participate in the creation and completion of the work’s meaning. \u003c/p\u003e","ai_alt_text":"Person seen from behind showing bare shoulders and short curly hair, with labels 'BACK' and 'TRACK'.","alt_text":"The head and shoulders of a short-haired Black woman in a dark blouse with her back to the camera. Single strands of dark braided hair hang on either side of her above text that reads \"BACK\" and \"TRACK\"","visual_description":null,"on_view":false,"created_at":"2017-08-30T15:46:11.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-02-06T11:59:39.174-05:00","images":[{"id":99109,"url":"https://whitneymedia.org/assets/artwork/7778/91_59_4a-e_cropped.jpg"}]},"relationships":{"artists":{"data":[{"id":"3452","type":"artist"}]}}}}