Accession of Demetri Broxton’s , “How You Gon’ Win” by the Norton Museum of Art

 


 

PATRICIA SWEETOW GALLERY is again – Over the Moon 🌚 – to announce the accession of DEMETRI BROXTON’S , “How You Gon’ Win” by the NORTON MUSEUM OF ART, West Palm Beach, Fl

Demetri Broxton’s soft sculpture, “How You Gon’ Win”, was included in a 2024 exhibition STRIKE FAST DANCE LIGHTLY, Artists on Boxing at the NORTON MUSEUM OF ART, West Palm Beach, Florida. The exhibition unpacked the rich intersections of art and boxing — locating the work in explorations of spectacle, the body, psychology, storytelling, and politics.

Curated by Arden Sherman, Glenn W. and Cornelia T. Bailey Senior Curator of Contemporary Art. “Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing” was organized in partnership among The Church, Sag Harbor, NY, The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY, and the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL.

We’d like to thank Arden Sherman, the Curator of Contemporary Art, who led the accession of Broxton’s soft sculpture “How You Gon’ Win” for the permanent Collection of the Norton Museum of Art.

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How You Gon’ Win | 2023 | Boxing gloves, hand cut Cypraea moneta cowrie shells, glass beads, red coral, tourmaline, quartz, beachcombed Pacific Ocean gastropod shells, copper wire, shredded denim, stainless steel chain & hardware, nylon thread, dried herbs, metaphysical elements

Inspired by Lauryn Hill’s breakout track, “Doo Wop (That Thing)” from her debut solo album “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”, the words inscribed on these boxing gloves (How You ‘Gon Win When You Aren’t Right Within) are an encouragement to work and heal within. In the track, Lauryn is specifically speaking to relationships that are only about “that thing,” but the lyrics apply to other areas of life.

The color scheme of purple, turquoise, silver, and red are common jewelry colorways found in Berber and other cultures in and surrounding the Sahara desert. With a complex history of being enslaved, and enslaving others, these colorways with Lauryn Hill’s lyrics, “How You Gon’ Win” also stand as a cautionary tale to the oppressed not to transform themselves into the oppressor.

“The sculpture is covered in Cypraea moneta, the money cowrie shells which historically served as currency throughout West Africa and were employed by European traders as blood money during the Transatlantic Slave Trade”. – Demetri Broxton