U.S. Citizenship: Race / Class / Gender
Doug Webb, Liberty Renewed, circa 1985, serigraph on paper, 28 13/16 in. x 37 in. ( 73.2 cm x 94 cm ), Gift of Jack A. and Noreen Rounick
English 332, AMCULT 103, AMCULT 300, ALA 270
Faculty Curators: Dana Nichols (English Language and Literature), Kristin Hass (American Culture), Sigrid Anderson (University Library; English Language and Literature), and Stephanie Hicks (Program on Intergroup Relations)
On view: Winter 2023
The artworks selected for this display explore the ways race, gender, and class intersect around ideas of United States citizenship. Each artist leans into the power of visual art to produce multiple, complex meanings that invite us to consider the ideological and political processes that have defined who is in and who is out, and to rank the citizenship of some people’s identities higher than those of others.
Classes that consider the politics of citizenship and immigration constitute a significant portion of UMMA’s work with learning at the university. Here we have combined what we have been doing with those classes into a single display. We selected some of the artworks that have propelled the most rich and engaging discussions over the years and combined them with a new acquisition, Sonya Clark’s Whitewashed.
Works Included In This Collection
1965 - 1970
Sir Eduardo Paolozzi ; Richard Davis; Editions Alecto
photolithograph on paper
1985
George Vargas
welding goggles, metal, hanging bells, rusty bottle cap, pulleys, chains, and padlock mounted on plywood
2017
Sonya Clark
digital file template to be painted directly on wall, made up of Sherwin Williams paint colors: Incredible White, Storyteller, Natural Choice
1980-2010
Tyree Guyton
paint cans, wooden crate, American flag, rearview mirror, and ceramic figurine
SUPPORT
Lead support for this exhibition is provided by the University of Michigan Office of the Provost, Erica Gervais Pappendick and Ted Pappendick, the Eleanor Noyes Crumpacker Endowment Fund, and the Oakriver Foundation.