Niki de Saint Phalle Miss Black Power 1968

A black woman wearing a colorful dress and holding a blue polka dot bag stands majestically with her feet planted on the ground. Her corpulent body seems to be spilling over with the confidence and joy of a woman who is nurturing life. The artist who created this piece, Niki de Saint Phalle, suffered from depression after getting married and bearing a child. She began creating artworks in order to overcome her depression, and also reexamined her own life and the role of women through the creation of her artworks. The piece is one in her “Nanas” series of gigantic statues of women, which she is said to have conceived of when she saw the figure of a pregnant friend. Women and black people, who have been oppressed and suffered discrimination under outdated sets of values, have been reborn here as a goddess full of freedom and joy, and praising femininity.