Thornton Dial’s tigers are always partially autobiographical whilst also serving as visual metaphor for the social space that Black men occupy in modern American society. In certain instances, they are revered, idolized, or fetishized. They are also threatened and menaced. For Dial, Black men, not unlike tigers, exist within the metaphorical jungle of America, a space that is full of beauty and wonder but also omnipresent danger.

Dial’s Untitled (Tiger) painting is a direct provocation to the viewer, the only one of its kind, incorporating a large mirror into the animal’s body that forces anyone who approaches to see themselves reflected. If the viewer is standing squarely in front of the painting, they will see themselves just above the flattened face of a second tiger, staring back. The overall effect is that of a question, perhaps mostly eloquently posed by one of Dial’s contemporaries, Mary Tillman Smith, who scrawled the phrase: “Hear I Am Don’t You See Me?” on a piece of wood affixed to a shed in her yard. Smith was nearly deaf and created an entire yard and life of artistic expression to cement her place in the world. Both artworks function as pleas for understanding and empathy in the jungle of our world. Over time, this tiger will, of course, encounter many different kinds of people, its body a cumulative reflection of varied viewpoints, ideas, races, and personalities—much like the tiger itself.