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Crusader

Contemporary Art

Nari Ward’s work takes shape from found, and often previously discarded, objects, drawing on Jamaican folk-art traditions of creating new forms from unexpected materials. In this video, the artist navigates the streets of Harlem from within his sculpture, Crusader (2005), also in the Brooklyn Museum collection. Referencing social and material instability, Ward transforms a shopping cart into a chariot, adding a protective sculptural hood to a conveyance often used by unhoused people to safeguard their belongings. The cart is circled by used gas cans, and items such as a spinning globe are painted over with tar extract—speaking to how oil fuels energy, but also global conflict and change.
MEDIUM Single-channel video (DVD), loop, 38 minutes
DATES 2006
COLLECTIONS Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 2008.52.2
CREDIT LINE Purchased with funds given by Giulia Borghese
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Artist's performance documented by Zachary Fabri
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Nari Ward (Jamaican, born 1963). Crusader, 2006. Single-channel video (DVD), loop, 38 minutes Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Giulia Borghese, 2008.52.2. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2008.52.2_view01_SC.jpg)
EDITION Edition: 1/3
IMAGE screen capture, Timestamp: 00:10, 2008.52.2_view01_SC.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2020
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RIGHTS STATEMENT © Nari Ward
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Nari Ward (Jamaican, born 1963). <em>Crusader</em>, 2006. Single-channel video (DVD), loop, 38 minutes Brooklyn Museum, Purchased with funds given by Giulia Borghese, 2008.52.2. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2008.52.2_view01_SC.jpg)