Artist Proof 1, in an edition of 5 with 2 artist proofs. Numbered in pencil lower left margin: “AP1”; signed and dated in pencil lower right margin. With text in the image: “Who becomes a Legend most? / Black Ray 1990”.

Margaret Rose Vendryes is a visual artist, art historian, and curator. For well over a decade, Vendryes has worked on The African Diva Project which links African American celebrities to their African roots by depicting them wearing traditional African masks. Her unusual combination of Western and African aesthetics reveals a formidable merger of beauty and power.

Blackglam Legends, a new print series within the project, revisits the Blackglama mink ad campaign “What Becomes a Legend Most?” to elevate, above the hyper-expensive luxury product, eight celebrities of African descent who were featured in the ad campaign. She lays bare the irony of black mink on black bodies by adding the African masks and asking, “Who Becomes a Legend Most?”