GOOD TROUBLE
Creator(s): Roberto Lugo (Ceramicist)
About this object
This urn-shaped vase features the portraits of the late civil rights leader and Georgia congressman John Lewis, on the front, and on the reverse, three influential women in politics—Vice President Kamala Harris, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and voting rights advocate and politician Stacey Abrams. Lewis is well known for referring to his civil rights work as getting into “good trouble, necessary trouble,” hence, the title of the vase. Roberto Lugo based his portrait of Lewis on a police mugshot taken in the 1960s when Lewis’s participation in nonviolent protests against racial segregation landed him in jail. The vase’s colorful patterns reference African textiles and graffiti, while the ginger jar–shape and classical motifs along the base nod, respectively, to Chinese porcelain and ancient Greek decoration.
- Object name:
- GOOD TROUBLE
- Made from:
- glazed ceramic -- enamel paint
- Made in:
- USA
- Date made:
- 2020
- Size:
- 17 × 11 1/2 × 11 1/2 in. (43.2 × 29.2 × 29.2 cm)
Detailed information for this item
- Catalog number:
- 2021.4.1-2
- Signature marks:
- INSCRIPTIONS Good Trouble [On vase]
- Credit line:
- Museum purchase, 2021