Pretty is...a Little Black Girl

In this 2002 self-portrait, Beverly McIver depicts herself in blackface make-up, standing alone in an intentionally ambiguous setting, gazing pensively at the viewer. Dressed in a maid’s uniform (her mother was a domestic worker), she wears a clown’s wig and white gloves, cradling a pair of dark-skinned dolls. Her shoes and socks are those of a child. On the wall behind her hangs a portrait of a grinning circus clown. The unconventional, pared-down composition focuses our attention on the details of the figure’s costume and accompanying props. The scene recounts a recurring dream from McIver’s childhood. She explained: “As a child I had dreamed of becoming a clown to escape my Black skin, poverty, and the housing project I once called home. Clowning was my disguise, my liberation.” For McIver, the self-portrait represents a personal journey of discovery in which she confronts ingrained racial stereotypes while exploring her own identity as a woman and an African American.