The Edge of Ethics

In 2006, Saar began collecting cages like this one, which she purchased at a swap meet in Long Beach, California. She has said, “The cage, an object of containment, for me became a metaphor for many concepts: ideas of limitations, of emotions, of racism, of feminism, of death, of beauty, of mystery, of legends and superstition.”

Betye Saar
The Edge of Ethics, 2010
Metal cage, figures, chain, glass bottle,
and fan coral
Courtesy of the artist and Roberts Projects, Los Angeles, California. © Betye Saar.
photo © Museum Associates/LACMA