Projects > Sambo Scratches His Navel and Watches His Crazy Sister (2006-2009)

Michael Dixon and Onye Ozuzu, Sambo Scratches His Navel and Watches His Crazy Sister
Sailor Ray Rumph Wouldn't Have No Mixed Grandson
Oil and Graphite on canvas
60x48
2008

Ellegua is an Orisha (spirit) associated with "opening the ways", or crossroads. Often depicted as a child or a small man, he is a playful and a trickster god. Sambo is a racial term for a Black in the United States. It is considered a racial slur. Blackface is a style of theatrical makeup that originated in the United States, used to take on the appearance of an archetype of American racism - that of the darky or coon. Minstrel shows portrayed and lampooned blacks in stereotypical and often disparaging ways: as ignorant, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, joyous, and musical.