Rage Against Machine

2008

Rage Against Machine, 2008. Robert A. Pruitt (American, b. 1975). Conté crayon on Kraft paper; sheet: 207.2 x 155.3 cm (81 9/16 x 61 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Ruthe and Heinz Eppler Fund 2009.85 © Robert A Pruitt In this drawing Robert Pruitt depicts a woman dressed in costume from the 19th century, when slavery still flourished, but with contemporary tennis shoes peeking out from underneath her dress. She holds a long-handled hammer, a reference to the freed slave John Henry, who worked as a steel driver and became a legend when he won a race against a steam-powered hammer during the 1870s. In the same way that Henry overcame a machine, Pruitt's heroic figure suggests the destruction of a corrupt and inequitable system. The title of this drawing alludes to the band Rage Against the Machine, whose lyrics were inspired by revolutionary politics.