Tell me more about Elizabeth Catlett and her connection to the subject of this print.
Catlett was the daughter of former slaves. After studying art in the United States, she moved to Mexico and spent the rest of her career there. She worked into her 90s! She was concerned above all with the social dimension of her art.
This print alludes to the segregation experienced by African Americans in the United States in the mid-20th century; this woman is riding a bus with separate seating for white and black passengers.
I think the sharp and jagged lines of her printmaking also express the tension of her subject.