"Rather Bright Complexion"

2022

In addition to The Grim Work of Death, Christopher Myers also created Rather Bright Complexion, a palm oil soap sculpture of Nat Turner's head. Myers was inspired by a 1920 article stating that after Turner was hanged, his body was skinned and made into grease soap, and his severed head was put on public view. Rather Bright Complexion alludes to Italian Baroque artist Caravaggio’s Salome with the Head of John the Baptist, linking Nat Turner to the prophetic Christian saint.