Annunciation of a Woman
Oil on Belgian Linen, 40" x 48"
The annunciation in the painting refers to the awakening of ancestral identity. Leaning on a chair emblazoned with the Adinkra character for knowledge, Eve turns toward the angelic being bringing forth an Ankh, a symbol of eternal life in ancient Egypt. For Rosales, the Ankh also refers to gender equality, as it unites the symbols of female and male. Eve holds two large figs in her hands as she readies herself to taste the fruit, a signifier of manipulation in the artist’s iconography. Below her, an entire basket of figs threatens to topple over, encouraged by the snake of knowledge.
As one of the opening paintings of Rosales’s 2018 exhibition New World Consciousness, Annunciation of a Woman serves as an announcement of what to expect from this body of work. Her paintings, like the Lucumí religion, blend Christian imagery with African meaning. In doing so, the work reclaims African identity, notably in the Ankh symbol and the intricate Orís around the heads of the figures.
