N brought in something for me to see - a little ceramic piece of a 'black' man's head which apparently was used for tobacco.
She thought I would be interested as an artist. She laughed at the anatomical inaccuracies; it looked like a white person 'blacked up'. I don't know why people made these things in the first place, little heads to be filled with tobacco where brains should be. I also don't know why people continue to be fascinated with "negrophilia". The only people I have ever known who have collected it (other than one black male artist as part of the kind of art he makes)has been middle class white women, women who consider themselves a bit different, a bit arty - which might be why they believe I would be interested in it...