JESSICA SABOGAL
WHITENESS REMAINS INVISIBLE
MATERIALS
Acrylic paint, vinyl lettering, and adhesive on metal
CONSIDERATIONS
How do materials and place infer meaning to artwork?
What is whiteness?
What are the ways in which you benefit from whiteness?
What can you do to protect and uplift all Black people?
What does it mean to feel safe? Where do you feel most safe?
Do you consciously think about your safety on a regular basis?
REFERENCE SOURCES
How to be an Anti-Racist, Ibrahim X. Kendi, 2019
So You Want to Talk about Race, Ijeoma Oluo, 2018
Column — In the Midst of a Racial Reckoning: What Does Whiteness Mean, Frank Shyong, LA Times, June 2020.
The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America, Richard Rothstein, 2017
Redlining: The History of Berkeley’s Segregated Neighborhoods, Jesse Barber, Berkeleyside, September, 2018
ARTWORK NOTES
As a social justice artist, Jessica Sabogal creates pieces that address inequity and oppression and present a powerful, alternative narrative. She often works in large scale mural formats and many of these installations include smaller signs held by the people she portrays. For Whiteness is Invisible she produced one of these signs as a stand alone artwork for the first time. Her piece directly addresses the reality that white places of privilege protect and isolate residents from the race-based stress that non-white people experience. It encourages viewers to reflect on the construct of personal safety and the varying levels of comfort and connection people feel in different spaces. What does it mean to be white in a white space?
ARTIST BACKGROUND
Jessica Sabogal is a first-generation Colombian American muralist using her medium for social change, action, and empowerment. Her murals have been commissioned by Facebook, Google, 20th Century Fox, the University of Southern California, CSU San Marcos, The University of Arizona, and The University of Utah among many others. In 2016, Sabogal received KQED’s Women to Watch Award and the following year was commissioned by the Amplifier Foundation for the 2017 Women’s March, after which her “Women Are Perfect” campaign. She is current an Artist-in-Residence at Kala.