
“How dare you tell artists what they can do? That’s the beginning of some really bad funk—bad, bad, bad.”~Faith Ringgold
Cut paper and marker writing
24 1/16 x 29 5/8 in.
The People’s Flag Show was a poster Faith Ringgold had designed for the eponymous exhibition at the Judson Memorial Church in New York in November 1970. Ringgold had actively participated in a number of protests, events, and actions related to the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. It became increasingly important to her to bring her activism in alignment with her own work as an artist. In light of the Civil Rights Movement and protests against the Vietnam war, the flag had become a universally culturally charged symbol and the artists aimed to provide a platform to test the boundaries of the increasingly enforced desecration laws. The exhibition was planned to span several days and show the work that artists had submitted in response to an open call by Ringgold and her co-organizers, artists Jon Hendricks and Jean Toche. Over 150 artists submitted their work in response to the call for submissions that would counter repression of free expression. At the opening, works presented included a performance piece in which artists burned a flag together with old bones and rotten meat, and the choreographer and dancer Yvonne Rainer performed nude with flags tied around her and her dancers.
The poster for the show was reprinted from a collage made by Faith Ringgold in collaboration with her daughter Michele Wallace. Upon a red background, the union of the flag in which the stars are normally held, holds the information for the show such as title, location, and date. In the space of the stripes is a text hand written by Michele Wallace inviting the American people to express what the flag means to them. The poster was reproduced and sold at the show for one or two dollars.