NAT 5 CULTURAL AND SOCIAL B ANSWER

Question 1

Cultural And Social Point 1

Answer 1

Chris Ofili grew up in a politically and racially turbulent time. This inspired him to explore race and identity in his work.

Question 2

Cultural And Social Point 2

Answer 2

The title of his painting ‘No Woman No Cry’ is the name of a 1974 song by the Jamaican reggae musician Bob Marley that pleads a female listener not to be sad. The woman Ofili is meant to be referring to is Doreen Lawrence, the mother of Stephen Lawrence, the teenager who was killed in an unprovoked racist attack in 1993. The large tears falling from her eyes contain a tiny photograph of her murdered son.

Question 3

Cultural And Social Point 3

Answer 3

Chris Ofili makes visual reference to various artists and periods of history that have influenced him within No Woman No Cry

Question 4

Cultural And Social Point 4

Answer 4

Taking inspiration from religion in art history, he paints Doreen Lawrence in the same pose of the 16th century painting ‘The Magdalen Weeping’. The pose powerfully signifies both women crying over the loss of their sons.

Question 5

Cultural And Social Point 5

Answer 5

The lady in ‘No Woman No Cry’ is made up with a series of brown and brightly coloured tiny dots. These dots relate back to Ofili’s inspiration of the repeated dots, patterns, and colours found within Aboriginal Art.

Question 6

Cultural And Social Point 6

Answer 6

The collaged, circles which make up the background diamond pattern in ‘No Woman, No Cry’, are cut from a reproduction of a work by the
British abstract artist Bridget Riley. Ofili was inspired by Bridget Riley, in particular her modern take on pointillism