Five Day Forecast

Five Day Forecast, by Lorna Simpson depicts a composition of five large black and white photographs cut off at the torso of a woman on each day of the workweek. Simpson illustrates a black woman in a plain ill-fitted shift dress. This woman stands facing the camera, arms crossed, accentuating the strength and the muscular build of her arms only to emphasis in on the looseness of the fabric hanging from her upper body. This pose portrays a feeling’s of defense, rebellion and contemplation. When looking at the five photographs in sequence the viewer becomes aware that Simpson illustrates a movement within the photographs. This movement intertwines and connects with each other, illustrating a shift of weight from the right side of the body to the left. Below the photographs of the black woman there is a series of framed black words all staring with the letter M. From left to right they read: ‘Misdescription,’
Overall at first glance this piece resembles a police line up. Although the viewer can assume that the subject of this piece is the same woman, the images are cut off at the neck and the hips, furthering the police line up resemblance. Simpson plays on the idea of our judicial system working as a mechanical system. We cannot see the faces of the bodies on this piece which represents the faceless crowd of black color that are hauled in and out of prisons on the daily as represented by the work days of the week above. Without the faces these bodies just become objects rather than people or a person. As well as this the days of the week from Monday to Friday can be seen as a metaphor, or even be thought of as a photography diary of some sorts. Each day adds to the emphasis of the daily struggle to get through the week or the boredom that comes with repetition. This can be further depicted through the list of words