My Calling (Card) was an interactive work that Piper performed unannounced where ever she was that day from 1986 to 1990. ("Wikipedia") Piper uses “a passive-aggressive approach to showcase how racism and sexism are intrinsically harmful” ("African American Art"). Piper is a very light-skinned African American, so many people think that she is white. She is very good at “acting white” as well. The brown card in the series is used to directly confront anyone who uses an racist remark while she is present. She would do this anywhere even at dinners and cock-tail parties. When she hears the remark she hands them the card and this usually makes them very uncomfortable. The white card is used on men, it tells them that she is available simply because she is unaccompanied. She uses these cards in these situations. Since this work has been made she display these cards in exhibits for people to take and use. Her main focus with these cards is that “the focus in these mass-produced objects is not on craft, but on the ideas behind their production” ("African American Art"). Piper “recounts the extreme discomfort she experienced in various other ways of handling the recognition/non-recognition of her blackness. The indexical present instantiated by her work seemed to act as a catalyst for social mindfulness, awareness of the here-and-now of interpersonal relations” (Steinmetz).
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