Photograph by Joe Gall.
Detroit is one of the most exciting art cities in America today thanks to people like Tiff Massey. A native of the city, she studied metalsmithing at nearby Cranbrook Academy of Art and has had an explosive career path since. Adornment, often in the key of hip-hop and in overscale imagery rather than wearable objects, is central to her work. She has made monumental public artworks in the form of finger rings, walls of yellow-tinted “weave” hairdos, an architectural installation based on “quilt code,” and wallpapers and neon signs (“Bitch Don’t Touch My Hair!!”).
It all adds up to a politically savvy, occasionally hilarious, and always uncompromising body of work. Yo Mama’s Earring, created for Objects: USA 2020, plays on one of Massey’s key themes, that of African-American body ornamentation (which she has referred to, in one installation artwork, as an “everyday arsenal”). The sculpture’s lobed heart shape suggests a certain degree of sentimentality. Yet its transformation through scale and intensive craft, and the work’s tough-talking title—like a taunt delivered on a playground or street corner—makes it an icon of personal fierceness.
Yo Mama's Earring in brass. Designed and made by Tiff Massey, USA, 2020.
11.5" L x 1" W x 11.5" H
29.2cm L x 2.5cm W x 29.2cm H
SP1376