United States of Attica

Label

Faith Ringgold created United States of Attica between 1971 and 1972, in the wake of the Attica prison rebellion. Rather than marking geographic features, Ringgold maps the US through events—specifically acts of violence committed by the state or its citizens. With arresting green and red quadrants that reference the colors of the Pan-African flag designed by Black nationalist Marcus Garvey, “United” is made a contradiction through Ringgold’s division of the country. She indicates that the map, though full, is unfinished and invites the viewer to continue the work of recording events that are missing from the work itself, and arguably from our historical narratives.

From the 2022 exhibition This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, curated by Jami C. Powell, Curator of Indigenous Art; Barbara J. MacAdam, former Jonathan L. Cohen Curator of American Art; Thomas H. Price, former Curatorial Assistant; Morgan E. Freeman, former DAMLI Native American Art Fellow; and Michael Hartman, Jonathan Little Cohen Associate Curator of American Art

Course History

FREN 7, French Graphic Novels, Annabelle Cone, Spring 2013

ENVS 80, Writing Our Way Home: The Writing That Sustains Us, Terry Tempest Williams, Spring 2013

FILM 48, SART 17, The Map, Mary Flanagan, Summer 2013

ANTH 12.3, WGST 42.5, The Ethnography of Violence, Chelsey Kivland, Fall 2013

COLT 73.4, Violence, Ayo Coly, Winter 2015

AAAS 67.5, GEOG 21.01, Black Consciousness and Black Feminisms, Abigail Neely, Winter 2019

RUSS 7.06, Doing Things with Words, Ainsley Morse, Winter 2020

AAAS 7.05, Imagining Black Freedom in America since the Civil War, Julie Rabig, Spring 2020

AAAS 88.19, Contemporary African-American Artists, Michael Chaney, Summer 2021

ANTH 7.05, Animals and Humans, Laura Ogden, Winter 2022

GEOG 31.01, Postcolonial Geographies, Erin Collins, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 50.05, Environmental Archaeology, Madeleine McLeester, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Sienna Craig, Winter 2022

ARTH 5.01, Introduction to Contemporary Art, Mary Coffey and Chad Elias, Winter 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

ANTH 3.01, Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, Chelsey Kivland, Summer 2022

SPAN 65.15, Wonderstruck: Archives and the Production of Knowledge in an Unequal World, Silvia Spitta and Barbara Goebel, Summer 2022

HIST 10.04/AAAS 20.02, Dartmouth Black Lives, Julia Rabig and Darryl Barthe, Fall 2022

Geography 29.01, Global Cities, Erin Collins, Spring 2023

Sociology 1.01, Introduction to Sociology, Kimberly Rogers, Spring 2023

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 74, Text as Image / Image as Text: Narratives of African American History and Identity, Emma Routhier, Class of 2012, Levinson Intern, Main Lobby, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, November 3-December 2, 2012.

This Land: American Engagement with the Natural World, Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire, January 5–April 18, 2022.

Word and Image in Contemporary Art, Churchill P. Lathrop Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 26-August 4, 2013.

Publication History

Emma Routhier, A Space for Dialogue 74, Text as Image / Image as Text: Narratives of African American History and Identity, Hanover, New Hampshire: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, 2012, ill. p. 1.

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