Disrupting Identity: Analyzing Katrina Andry’s “Mammy Complex: Unfit Mommies Make for Fit Nannies”

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In, “Mammy Complex: Unfit Mommies Make for Fit Nannies”, made in 2011 by New Orleans native1, Katrina Andry, explores a complicated narrative on persisting negative stereotypes within the essence of mother-hood. Most of Andry’s work centralizes itself around conceptions of identity, primarily analyzing the stigmas which surround minorities. In this particular work, Andry arguably presents this in an unusual manner--using a white figure to reveal connotations of the black female identity. Though this may seem peculiar to viewers initially, Rachel Skidmore, from the Halsey Institute, explains, “Andry substitutes the contested body for one culturally assumed to be unproblematic, so as to provoke productive reflection about our conceptions of women’s bodies when seen through the delineating lens of race2.” In other words, what do stigmas and stereotypes become when removing certain aspects to one’s identity? More often than not, they’ll probably crumble, one realizing that they have no solidified foundation for their judgments anymore, no funnel for their hatred. Or perhaps one will have to outwardly admit that they’re a racist--which could also be a sight to see entirely on its own.

Taking a closer look at the wood-cut print, Andry portrays her central figure, as white-appearing, while still revealing stigmas of the black female. For instance, the face of the figure to the right, is referred to by some critics as ‘watermelon face’3. This stereotype definitively still exists in modern society, and additionally, adds to the flesh and muscle like consistency that Andry appoints to both her female figures. Both figures are without defined features, leaving them to more resemble skeletons. This further makes viewers question Andry’s conceptions of identity here--is she deconstructing the figure, and ultimately her own stigma, just as much as she is using the figure to reveal these harmful historical depictions?

The narrative of the work itself tends to mimic historical portrayals of the ‘Mammy’, which is defined as a Black woman who nurtures and raises a wealthier White woman’s children. Andry displays this with an established class division: the figure on the right is struggling to carry two children, both wrapping them around her body, while the left female figure is holding some sort of brief-case, casting a scouring face to all the other figures, before presumably leaving for work.

Taking a look at the background of the work, Andry chooses a quilt to frame the entire piece. The quilt is garnished with various intricate patterns: from flowers, cheetah prints, and different geometric shapes--one of which being a spiral, located adjacently to the right figures’ knee and which also hints at a divine intervention, evolution or growth. Though the placement and presence of the quilt is stark, the viewer’s eyes still wander to the remaining figures and their connection to the quilt. Ultimately, one has to wonder the overall intention of this quilts inclusion. If one presumes that the quilt--alike most other depictions in Andry’s work--serves to question prior racial stereotypes or comment on the history of Black people in America, then perhaps her inclusion is to emphasize the overall glorification of Black culture which is so heavily apparent in Western society. The thin green vine which outlines the quilt on its outer frame seemingly touches every figure in the work, as if connecting them to the quilt itself, and, perhaps giving them a sense that they are (falsely) connecting with a culture which is not (and will never be) their own. The natural inclusion of vinery contrasts the rest of the domestic space which Andry has fabricated, separating itself from the figures, while also unifying them all together simultaneously.

- Alex Trousilek (Class of 2021)

[1] Andry, Katrina, 2015. https://www.katrina-andry.com/about.
[2] Skidmore, Rachel. “Blactose Tolerant vs Mammy Complex: Unfit Mommies Make for Fit Nannies” Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art. Sep 2019.
[3] Ibid.

Works Cited