Heroines: Michelle

Like many artists of his generation, Gilberto Wilson could be called an image scavenger, because he uses pre-existing pictures that he translates into his own printmaking language.  Statia's Memories celebrates the artist's visits to Saint Eustatius, the Caribbean island where his grandparents were raised.  By incorporating photos of an elderly woman and of children with a donkey, he documents aspects of rural life that he himself witnessed. 

The Gap, addressing the cavernous rift between society's haves and have-nots, contrasts cartoon depictions of a fortress-like apartment building with figures wasted by hunger.  Wilson’s components include the logo of Frank’s Fruit Beverages, a Philadelphia bottling company that is no longer in business. 

Part of a larger series devoted to extraordinary women, Heroines: Michelle (shown here) honors the artist's former wife.  His mélange of images includes multiple versions of Michelle’s portrait photo, as well as powerful women comic book characters and formally posed role models from the nineteenth century.