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A woman with light colored skin, wearing a black top and white pants, talks to a group of people in a gallery room. She stands in front of a large, painted portrait of a woman in a high-collared red dress.
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National Museum of Women in the Arts

Esther Mahlangu’s Touch

Tiny, colorful beads arranged in patterns to depict Esther Mahlangu painting a large artwork of geometric shapes in light pink and blue, black, white, yellow, and green. She is a dark-skinned adult woman wearing colorfully patterned robes.
Sonya Clark, Esther Mahlangu’s Touch, 2015; Glass beads, 16 x 16 in.; Museum purchase: Members’ Acquisition Fund and Belinda de Gaudemar Acquisition Fund; © Sonya Clark; Photo by Taylor Dabney
Close up of Esther Mahlangu’s Touch
Tiny, colorful beads arranged in patterns to depict Esther Mahlangu painting a large artwork of geometric shapes in light pink and blue, black, white, yellow, and green. She is a dark-skinned adult woman wearing colorfully patterned robes.

Artwork Details

  • Artist

    Sonya Clark

  • Title

    Esther Mahlangu’s Touch

  • Date

    2015

  • Medium

    Glass beads

  • Dimensions

    16 x 16 in.

  • Donor Credit

    Museum purchase: Members’ Acquisition Fund and Belinda de Gaudemar Curatorial Fund

  • Image Credit

    © Sonya Clark; Photo by Taylor Dabney

  • On Display

    No

The Artist, Sonya Clark

Textile artist Sonya Clark interweaves craft, history, and race to create mixed-media works that celebrate Blackness and address racial tensions and stereotypes.
A woman with medium-dark skin tone and short black hair smiles into the camera. She wears black glasses, a white and yellow knit top and gold earrings.