Afro Pick Sculpture

This fall a new afro pick will be installed in Queens and the artist is Yvonne Shortt. The pick will be medium size -6 feet. It is made using marble dust, steel, rice, and wood. And, it draws from the history of picks 5500 years ago when picks were carved in wood in Africa.

Her inspiration started when she decided to do a little research on her own pick ( Ms. Shortt has an Afro) with a fist symbol. “That pick was patented by an Italian businessman named Romani at the height of the black movement in the 70’s,” says Shortt. “It made me conscious of the fact that at a time when we, people of melanin skin, were fighting for equality and economy, someone came along and again money flowed away from us.” Ms. Shortt thinks it’s important to understand who profits from and during movements.

This basic research made Shortt want to understand the history of the pick and create a different kind of narrative. Ms Shortt also researched past artists and the sculptures they added to the conversation on the pick. Carlos Rolon was very kind. Helping with some of the research by pointing Ms. Shortt in the direction of other artists doing work with this object. Ms. Shortt also noted that some artists were so busy the couldn’t or wouldn’t return her emails. “I think we as artists have to be generous with each other,” said Shortt. “At the end of the day this is a labor of love. I could never be paid in dollars the worth of my hours; I do this to process the world around me and have a dialogue with my community.”

The pick will be going up outside in Queens in November. Different sizes of the pick will also be installed in Dutchess County and Brooklyn. Each pick has a handle that is sculpted by Ms. Shortt. Then, a mold is made and marble dust used for casting in her studio. Ms.Shortt uses marble dust as the language of communication to counteract the historical art narrative found in museums and used in Eurocentric art.

“Seeing Hank Willis Thomas’s 10 and 25 foot picks and Carlos Rolon’s 24k leaf pick inspired me too. I think it’s a great time for another narrative and new interpretation,” says Shortt.

About the Afro Pick

The head draws from picks 5500 years ago first carved in wood and stone from Africa. These picks often had heads or scenes, like a mother combing her daughter's hair or a tribe's symbol, carved on the top of the handle.

The braiding decoration on the pick handle is inspired by escape route patterns fleeing people of color would braid into their hair during slavery. Hair threading or braiding was also used to put rice bundles in the hair of children of color by moms for long rides on boats when they brought to foreign countries as slaves.

To share this narrative, some of the braiding symbols on the handle have rice grains, the hair texture was made using rice, and pockets in the hair hold rice.. The braiding symbol and casting explores the history of hair as a tool for sustenance and for the delivery of information.

The steel rods below the handle used as teeth draw from new pick patents of Bundle/ Childrey and Antonio Romani in the late 60s and 70s. The steel rod design of the 70’s made pick teeth stronger. The rods also present like imagery of boundaries or cells as well as giving the illusion of old temples when viewing the steel and marble together.

Hence, the pick design presented above draws from the history of the object 5500 years ago, adds in fundamental changes to the teeth of the object from the 70’s, shares ways people of color used their hair for freedom and survival, and present the community with a structure covered in marble dust, a material often used in museum sculptures.

About the writer
Many years ago I interned for Yvonne. Yvonne works incredibly hard, often volunteering her woman hours. I vowed to always find ways to tell her story. Share this article and help spread the word about her Afro pick. Woman have a hard time having their voice heard in art and for public sculpture it can be even harder. The cost is often the first barrier to entry followed by sex and race.