{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O88409"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88409/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EY8967/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2011EY8967/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"low","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2011EY8967","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AF1102","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":null},"record":{"systemNumber":"O88409","accessionNumber":"E.878-2003","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"Untitled","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons is one of the best-known Cuban artists of her generation. Her work engages with the history and traditions of the African diaspora, often referring to the religious and storytelling rituals that inform the lives of many Afro-Cubans today. \r\n\r\nCampos-Pons was already an experienced and innovative printmaker before making this print. Here, using digital processes to create a ’layered’ image, she has 'tattooed' eyes onto a view of her own back, bringing various ideas into play. It suggests the black body as the site of a voyeuristic gaze, but the pattern also evokes a design of peacock feathers - a kind of glorious adornment of the body, especially in religious ritual. \r\n\r\nThe black scholar and intellectual W. E. B. Dubois (1868-1963) proposed that black people were perpetually aware of their inner self as seen by the white viewer. Such awareness, he said, produces a kind of divided self, to be constantly negotiated and reconciled. This print could be read as a reference to this idea of seeing oneself from the outside, in an unexpected and particular way. The print was also produced in a different colourway - with blue instead of brown eyes.","physicalDescription":"Colour photogravure on handmade paper.  Image predominantly in light browns of woman's back (neck to hips/waist) covered in images of eyes. The background also covered in similar eyes.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Campos-Pons, Maria Magdalena","id":"C3379"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper","id":"C3972"},"association":{"text":"printer and publisher","id":"x35446"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"colour printing ink","id":"x35423"},{"text":"handmade paper","id":"x37630"}],"techniques":[{"text":"colour photogravure","id":"x37629"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Colour photogravure on handmade paper","categories":[{"text":"Body Art","id":"THES48988"},{"text":"Portraits","id":"THES48906"},{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Prints","id":"THES48903"},{"text":"African Diaspora","id":"THES48873"},{"text":"Caribbean","id":"THES286921"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2011EY8967","2006AF1102"],"imageResolution":"low","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"MP","shelf":"252","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"United States","id":"x29333"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1999","earliest":"1999-01-01","latest":"1999-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Purchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Length","value":"32.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"26","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Magdalena Campos Pons 7/1999'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"1999","earliest":"1999-01-01","latest":"1999-12-31"},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"pencil","method":"","position":"lower right corner","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Signature; date","note":"Signature and date but not clearly legible, lower right corner, pencil."},{"content":"9/14 [not clearly legible]","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"pencil","method":"","position":"bottom left corner","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"Maker's identification","note":"Maker's identification; bottom left corner; pencil"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"'Untitled', colour photogravure on handmade paper, by Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons, printed by the Rutgers Centre for Innovative Print and Paper, United States, 1999","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"Attribution note: This image was also printed in a different colourway, with the eyes as blue rather than brown.","productionType":{"text":"Limited edition","id":"THES48862"},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"eyes","id":"x37617"},{"text":"self portrait","id":"AAT124534"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"vision","id":"AAT55143"},{"text":"religion","id":"x37580"},{"text":"race","id":"AAT256475"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Cut Out: A Feminist History of Photo Collage, Montage and Assemblage (T&amp;H, V&amp;A publishing, spring 2026)\n\nMaria Magdalena Campos-Pons grew up on a Cuban sugar plantation in a family with Nigerian, Hispanic and Chinese roots. Her polyglot heritage profoundly influences her multidisciplinary art practice, which investigates history, memory, gender, religion and identity. Her work engages with African diaspora, evoking stories of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, indigo, plantation history, Catholic and Santería religious practices, and revolution. In this piece, Campos-Pons uses a digital collage technique to ‘tattoo’ eyes onto her own back. It suggests the Black female body as the historic site of a voyeuristic gaze, but also the adornment of one’s own body, especially in religious ritual and celebration. ","date":{"text":"03/12/2025","earliest":"2025-12-03","latest":"2025-12-03"}},{"text":"<b>Gallery 100, 2016-17:\n</b>\nMaria Magdalena Campos-Pons (born 1959)\r\nUntitled\r\n1999\n\r\nAfro-Cuban artist Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons photographed her own naked body and combined the image with printed eyes that float across the surface. The photograph can be considered a comment on the idea of the female body as the subject of a visual scrutiny.\n\r\nColour photogravure on handmade paper\r\nPurchased through the Julie and Robert Breckman Print Fund\r\nMuseum no. E.878-2003","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["E.878-2003"],"accessionNumberNum":"878","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2003,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"9/14","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2019LV0021"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-03-25","recordCreationDate":"2004-01-04","availableToBook":false}}