In the early 1990s, as artists increasingly engaged with identity politics in their work, Ligon gained fame for his text-based paintings featuring citations from famous authors addressing issues of race in America. Using oil stick and stencils in a technique reminiscent of that of Jasper Johns, Ligon would repeat methodically the same sentence throughout the surface of the picture, using language as both form and content. The text in the present work, "I remember the very day that I became colored" comes from Zora Neale Hurston's 1928 essay entitled "How It Feels to Be Colored Me." The use of a black medium on black paper undermines the legibility of the text, forcing the viewer's attention onto the words and giving them more weight.
Text reads: "I remember the very day I became colored," from Zora Neale Hurston, "How It Feels to Be Colored Me," in The World Tomorrow (May 1928): 215-216.
Recto: signed and dated at lower right, Glenn Ligon 92; inscribed lower left, for Larry, best wishes; verso: Signed, titled, and dated, Untitled Glenn Ligon 1992.