You’re Fine, You’re Hired

Lorna Simpson's artwork, You're Fine, You're Hired (1988), is a photo-text piece that explores stereotypes of race and gender, particularly concerning African American women. The work features Polaroid prints of an African American woman with text that relates to a physical exam on one side and "Secretarial" and "Position" on the other. Simpson's signature technique involves superimposed text to add layers of meaning to her posed studio shots, often obscuring the subjects' faces to comment on the perception of African American women in culture. This piece exemplifies her broader artistic practice, which has also included video installations and paintings, consistently examining identity and representation.1