Review – Faith Ringgold – The Art of Civil Rights
at John Jay College President's Gallery, June 6 – October 4, 2011
by Barbara F. Wallace, Art History Student
Faith Ringgold's Exhibition, The Art of Civil Rights at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York President's Gallery, is at the same time a beautiful, timely, thought-provoking, and poignant exhibition documenting key elements of American political history. The pivotal artwork is a set of 8 serigraph prints illustrating Martin Luther King, Jr's Letter from a Birmingham Jail 2007. This is the last work commissioned by Sid Shiff as director of the Limited Edition Club, and is produced by the Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI) of Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. At the time Faith Ringgold felt it an honor and a privilege to be asked to create this suite. Curator, Prof. Lisa Farrington has placed the words of Dr. King's letter on the walls of the gallery next to each of the 8 prints. Martin Luther King, Jr. was arrested in Birmingham, Alabama. Eight white clergymen made a public appeal asking Dr. King in prison to desist in his protest efforts, except within the confines of the court system. He wrote back with 8 points as to why he would continue his fight against white racism. Faith Ringgold illustrates his points with these prints showing Jim Crow America, segregation, the denial of the black vote, children being bombed at church on Sunday morning, and what it looks like in America to live without civil rights. This is germane because many African-Americans do not recognize racism. Faith Ringgold made a gift of the suite of eight serigraphs to the Africana Studies Department of the College.
Ms. Ringgold's art has always been political which becomes apparent as you walk through the gallery and look at the 1970s op art posters. In the '70s every group of people were demanding to be heard. It was a fantastic period when people were standing up and telling their stories. So Faith Ringgold began to create political and feminist posters. The message was, “Women Free Angela,” “Women Free Yourself,” “Woman Freedom Now.” She had seen the Bakuba design in African art and was inspired by the repeating rhythms and bold colors and began to use it in her art continuing until this day. You will also see the liberation colors, red, black and green. In Woman Free Yourself, you will only see the colors purple and green which parallels Ms. Ringgold's black light painting period – a period in which she did not use any white mixes in her paints. In all of these posters the words repeat themselves and can be read from many angles, upside down and sideways. They are all encompassing and send a very powerful message. You really do have to get it.
Faith Ringgold was a member of the Judson 3, 3 artists arrested at the historic People's Flag Show exhibiting art containing the American Flag at the Judson Memorial Church in Greenwich Village in November of 1970. The Judson 3 poster was created to raise funds for lawyers. It is simply the words – “Judson 3,” large, and again in the red, black, and green liberation colors. A red and black poster announces the show. Michele Wallace, at that time a girl of 18, tells us that the United States flag belongs to us all -- the words forming the stripes of our flag.
September 13, 2011 marked the 40th anniversary of the Attica prison takeover in upstate New York. 29 inmates and 10 hostages were killed by New York State troopers who stormed the prison to end the takeover. Faith Ringgold created The United States of Attica 1972 in reaction to this, one of the bloodiest governmental take downs of a prison insurrection in American history. Using the physical map of America, Ringgold writes different instances of violent acts on the part of governments throughout all of American history. Historically this map has been installed and viewers were invited to participate by writing other historical violent crimes on it. The red of the map speaks volumes to illustrate the violent theme of it, and all of the bloodshed in our nation. The green must of course represent the earth or foliage of our beloved homeland. And the black letters complete the liberation color motif.
Save Our Children in Atlanta 1981 is a poster which records the creation of a series of sculptures by Faith Ringgold. 29 young children were abducted and murdered in Atlanta, Georgia between 1979 and 1981. These events affected Ms. Ringgold deeply, as they did many mothers, and she created a set of Atlanta sculptures – The Atlanta Children, Save Our Children in Atlanta, and A Screaming Woman. The poster records the first two sculptures. It was widely circulated to bring attention to the manhunt for the murderer of these children. They were often given away for free.
Faith Ringgold is greatly inspired by President Barack Obama. Ringgold first said, “Yes, I can” as an art student at City College in the 1950s. She recounts the experience in Linda Freeman's video, The Last Story Quilt 1992, Portrait of an Artist Series L & S Videos, which was also run at the exhibition. Ringgold's art teacher couldn't recognize the mountains in a painting completed as a class assignment and told her to label them as mountains. Then he told her she couldn't paint. After hearing that she said, “Oh. Yes, I can!” She went on to be a famous and successful painter exhibited and collected in important museums and art collections around the world. The patriotic red, white and blue offset lithograph of President Obama is entitled, Yes, We Did. Faith Ringgold writes on it the historical statistics of the vote that put the first black president into office. This poster makes me think of pop art with its primary colors.
Finally, Ringgold has said that the most difficult work she's created is The Declaration of Freedom and Independence 2008, acrylic on paper studies and quilt. This illustrates the United States Declaration of Independence, a letter written to our British rulers stating 6 points why Americans were entitled to freedom from the tyranny of British rule. The words are Thomas Jefferson's. Ringgold could not illustrate that document without addressing the freedom of American women and blacks. She also made a gift to the John Jay College of the portfolio of 6 prints produced by the Experimental Printmaking Institute at Lafayette College illuminating slavery and women's suffrage. You will see a slave ship, Crisps Attucks, Sojourner Truth, a lynching tree, Frederick Douglas, and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Faith Ringgold rewrites American historical records with her art. And that's very important because the history books leave out so much. All of John Jay's students, and indeed all American students, should get to see this exhibition and to learn more about our own country and its political history. It is an exhibition for today.
The photographs online were taken by my schoolmates, John Jay College students Rafael Tineo, Solina Kim, and Tiffany Huang. Please sign the guestbook and leave a comment so that I may tell them you have seen their photos.
