<I>Spiral</I>
date: label: Date
content: 2022
name: label: Created by
content: Hank Willis Thomas, American, born 1976
notes: label: Caption
content: “The thing about America: liberty, justice, equality are all terms that come to mind but, for millions of Americans throughout its entire history as a nation, that has never really been true.” – Hank Willis Thomas
label: Caption
content: Spiral combines fabric from the United States flag with cloth from decommissioned prison uniforms, visually conflating “the stars and stripes” with the bars of imprisonment. This symbolic connection undercuts the false promise of liberty for all Americans, beginning with the continuing legacy of enslavement under the constitution to the contemporary prison industrial complex and its disproportionate impact on African American men.
label: Caption
content: The cotton in the fabric of the flags and the prison uniforms also pays homage to the backbreaking work of cotton harvesting produced by many people of African descent in the southern United States.
label: Description
content: A quilted work composed of decommissioned prison uniforms and United States flags. The piece juxtaposes the blue and white striped fabric of the prison uniform cloth with the red and white stripes of fabric from the American flag. Various sized pieces of each are layered and stitched together to form a graphic, square-shaped spiral pattern with the prison uniform cloth on the proper right side and the flag fabric on the proper left. There is a narrow strip of red and white stripes along half the long edge of the blue uniform side and a corresponding narrow strip of blue and white stripes along half the long edge of the flag side. The prison uniform fabric shows many stains and signs of wear and white sections of the flag stripes have yellowed with age.
place: label: Place depicted
content: United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Prisons
label: Topic
content: Race discrimination
label: Topic
content: United States History
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Visual Arts
label: Classification
content: Textiles and Quilts
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Museum purchase generously supported by American Express
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2023.106
objectType: label: Type
content: quilts
label: Type
content: mixed media
label: Type
content: textile art (visual works)
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © Hank Willis Thomas. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: cotton and synthetic cloth
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (frame): 99 × 102 3/4 × 1 1/2 in. (251.5 × 261 × 3.8 cm)