Rashid Johnson

Rashid Johnson (U.S., b. 1977) Black and Blue, 2021

Single-channel video (35mm film, transferred to video); 7:50 mins. Henry Art Gallery, purchased with funds from the Rothschild Family Foundation for the Henry Art Gallery’s Collection, 2021.64

Rashid Johnson is an American artist working in photography, film, and sculpture, among other media. Often autobiographical in nature, Johnson’s work explores race, class, and African American history. Shot on 35mm film during the COVID-19 pandemic, Black and Blue traces the daily rhythms of Johnson’s domestic life over the course of one day. Interspersed throughout the film—either within the domestic environment, or as brief flashes on screen—are the rich range of references that inform Johnson’s work: African sculpture, major photography books, significant literary works by African American writers, and artworks by his peers. The work takes its title from (What Did I Do to Be So) Black and Blue, a 1929 jazz standard originally composed by legendary jazz musician Fats Waller and later popularized by Louis Armstrong, which Johnson’s daughter plays on the piano in the film.