A Conversation with Jane, from Dick & Jane, 2014/2022
Screenprint on 290gsm Coventry Rag
8 × 10 inches
Edition of 10 + 5 APs
Signed and numbered
Printed by Du-Good Press
300 USD (Comes with a copy of Tender Noted)
In this screenprint, originally a study for the series of etchings, A Conversation with Jane, from Dick & Jane, Shala Miller reimagines the eponymous character from the once widely used English-language reading primers, published in serial format and popularized in the 1950s, before being phased out of use in classroom curricula by the 1980s. In staging a dialogue with a fictional, Black Jane, Miller corrects the image of a stereotypical, white, middle-class American character to propose a more nuanced conversation about representation, childhood, and the American imaginary.
About the artist
Shala Miller, also known by the performance moniker “Freddie June” when she sings, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. At around the age of ten or eleven, Miller discovered quietude, the kind you’re sort of pushed into, and then was fooled into thinking that this is where they should stay put. Since then, Miller has been trying to find their way out, and find their way into an understanding of herself and her history, using photography, video, writing, acting, and singing as aids in this process. Miller holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where they studied photography, film, video, and writing, and has studied under filmmaker Lucrecia Martel in Barcelona as part of La Selva’s film workshop “Sounds of Summer.” They received a fellowship to attend the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture and participated in the New York Film Festival’s Artist Academy.
About Du-Good Press
Owned and operated by Leslie Duguid, Du-Good Press is the first and only Black female owned fine art print maker in New York.