The Outwin Poster (ii)
This poster markets "The Outwin: American Portraiture Today", an exhibition held by the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art from October 5th, 2017 to January 7th, 2018. Every three years, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery hosts The Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition, which calls on artists across the country to submit portraits in a variety of mediums. The submissions divulge investigations of self-identity, cultural politics, and the effects of one's past or movement on their current life. An artist selected for the 2018 competition, Amy Sherald, captured the experience of being an African American woman in the south in a single portrait. "Miss Everything" features a young woman looking out at the viewer, or possibly at herself, as if looking into a mirror. She's donned a proper southern dress and headpiece and holds an enlarged cup and saucer with white-gloved hands. Sherald depicts her subject's skin color in gray, muting its significance in comparison to the pop of color emitted from their clothes or other props. This makes the subjects appear realistic but also otherworldly, so one's imagination expounds upon who they are through other elements of the painting. Together with the pop of color, the frontal position of the subject summons the viewer's attention, making Sherald's "Miss Everything" a strategic choice for marketing The Outwin exhibition at the Kemper.