Three Graces Oblivious While Los Angeles Burns

Joyce Scott uses her art to address topics such as sexuality, violence, and civil rights. A sculptor, jeweler, printmaker, and installation artist, she specializes in weaving, quilting, beadwork, and glass. “I believe in messing with stereotypes, prodding the viewer to reassess,” she says. “It’s important to me to use art in a manner that incites people to look and then carry something home—even if it’s subliminal—that might make a change in them.”
Three Graces Oblivious while Los Angeles Burns was created in the wake of the beating of Rodney King, an African-American construction worker. In March 1991, Los Angeles police beat and then arrested King after pulling him over for speeding. A bystander caught the incident on video and sent it to the television news stations. Indicted on charges of assault and filing false reports, the officers were tried in 1992 in Simi Valley, a predominantly white suburb of Los Angeles. They were found innocent and acquitted of all charges. Following news of the acquittals, widespread rioting in Los Angeles left 53 people dead and 8,000 others under arrest. Later, the police officers were retried and convicted, and the Los Angeles police chief was forced to resign.
Beneath the head of an African-American, representing the victimized King, the three Graces—who symbolize gracefulness, peace, and happiness—turn their backs on flat gray beaded building facades with bright orange spirals of flame, representing a burning skyline. For Scott, the choice of beads is intentional. Beadworking is traditionally regarded as a woman’s pursuit, and it is usually associated with jewelry and other decorative applications, especially in ethnographic and folk art. In her hands, however, the bead becomes a medium to communicate ideas about racism and justice.