Ankledeep was completed in 1991 in Preston, where Himid lives and works. It is part of a series entitled Revenge: A Masque in Five Tableaux that the artist finished in 1992 and first exhibited that same year at Rochdale Art Gallery. The series comprises twelve works (ten paintings, an installation and a drawing on paper) that include figurative pieces presenting pairs of black women in a range of scenarios, as is seen in Ankledeep and Between the Two My Heart is Balanced 1991 (Tate T06947), as well as more abstract works suggestive of modernist abstraction and African fabric and textiles, such as Carpet 1992 (Tate T12886).
