Abstract
Positioned against a shallow, undifferentiated background, her broad shoulders lying parallel to the picture plane, Fatima is rendered with an alert but impassive facial expression. Her lack of direct engagement with the audience was not unusual for the period and can be read as a sign of feminine modesty. In the historical and cultural context of late nineteenth-century Jamaica, this lack of direct contact with viewers encourages a reading of the work as ethnographic.
Fatima wears a collarless blue-striped tunic slightly open at her throat, revealing crisp, white undergarments beneath. The stripes of the shirt are not continuous, suggesting that