Early Beginner

  • Click on image to enlarge

    Photo: Stephen Pitkin/Pitkin Studio
1994
Chair and jump ropes
34.5 x 20 x 21 inches
Collection of
Brooklyn Museum
Gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation
Description

Early Beginner explores the void left for young girls as rituals have declined alongside the stable extended families that had provided an environment in which wisdom and life skills were imparted. In Early Beginner, a tangle of fluorescent jump ropes—a child’s confused psyche—tumbles over the seat of a chair. The message imparted is that she is not being taught how to grow up and play the game of life.