A necklace is meant to adorn and beautify its wearer. You don’t associate jewelry, or the ancient craft of beadwork, with ugliness or ugly subject matter. Joyce J. Scott upends this stereotype, weaving a spectacular necklace that, on close examination, reveals a scene of domestic violence so grisly as to render it unwearable. A grimacing man has attacked a bleeding woman, there are mysterious onlookers, and it’s unclear whether the large yellow hands are separating the couple or inciting the violence. Scott’s unlikely pairing of materials and theme makes an unflinching, unbeautiful necklace—an object to be seen, not worn.

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