Mario Moore b. 1987
These Are Not Yams But They Are Damn Good, 2025
Oil on linen
51 1/2 x 42 in.
130.8 x 106.7 cm
130.8 x 106.7 cm
Copyright The Artist
“These Are Not Yams But They Are Damn Good” was presented at the Library Street Collective for an exhibition titled Beneath Our Feet. Historically, the yam is a diasporic plant. Enslaved Africans were barred from bringing indigenous plants with them to North America, and as a result, true yams were replaced—through the process of creolization—by sweet potatoes. While sweet potatoes are indigenous to South and Central America, they have been cultivated in North America by Indigenous communities since at least the 1700s. The subjects depicted in this painting are the same farm owners shown in Moore's Garden of Resilience.
Provenance
Purchased from Library Street CollectiveExhibitions
"Tending to the Past", Fairchild Martindale Library, Lehigh University. Dates: Sep 26, 2025 - Mar 27, 2026Literature
Mothes, Kate. “Mario Moore’s Oil Paintings Bridge Past and Present to Spotlight Black Resilience and Style.” Colossal, 4 June 2025, www.thisiscolossal.com/2025/06/mario-moore-oil-paintings/.