Reverse View: KKK (from Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Ku-Klux-Klan, circa 1950s, National Museum of American History, Archives Center, NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.KKK)

Stephanie Syjuco, Reverse View: KKK (from Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Ku-Klux-Klan, circa 1950s, National Museum of American History, Archives Center, NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.KKK), 2021, archival pigment inkjet, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.24.2
Stephanie Syjuco, Reverse View: KKK (from Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Ku-Klux-Klan, circa 1950s, National Museum of American History, Archives Center, NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.KKK), 2021, archival pigment inkjet, sheet and image: 59 12 × 43 12 in. (151.1 × 110.5 cm) framed: 60 12 × 44 12 × 2 14 in. (153.7 × 113 × 5.7 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, 2022.24.2

Artwork Details

Title
Reverse View: KKK (from Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Ku-Klux-Klan, circa 1950s, National Museum of American History, Archives Center, NMAH.AC.0060.S01.01.KKK)
Date
2021
Dimensions
sheet and image: 59 12 × 43 12 in. (151.1 × 110.5 cm) framed: 60 12 × 44 12 × 2 14 in. (153.7 × 113 × 5.7 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Catherine Walden Myer Fund, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center
Mediums Description
archival pigment inkjet
Classifications
Subjects
  • History — United States — Black History
  • Object — written matter — newspaper
Object Number
2022.24.2

Artwork Description

In these works, Stephanie Syjuco manipulates archival material she photographed in 2019 as a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow at the National Museum of American History. Her discoveries there led her to consider the role of such collections in shaping American identity and history.

The source for Nationalities was Alexander Alland's American Counterpoint photographs from the 1940s. Syjuco highlights her engagement with that material through the exposure of a photograph, shown in the box where she found it. The source for Reverse View: KKK was the Warshaw Collection of Business Americana. Wedged between the subjects "Ladies Clothes" and "Kitchen Appliances," Syjuco found a folder containing pamphlets, correspondence, and photographs recording Ku Klux Klan activities. Here, Syjuco's engagement is made visible through her blockage. By exposing the backsides of these materials, Syjuco provides a counternarrative to white supremacy.

Works by this artist (11 items)

Richard Mock, Untitled (If This Is November, It Must Be July 4th), from the portfolio Mock of the Times, 1983, printed 1986, linocut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1987.74.3, © 1983, Richard Basil Mock
Untitled (If This Is November, It Must Be July 4th), from…
Date1983, printed 1986
linocut on paper
Not on view
Gregory Amenoff, Chamber, 1985, color woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1991.94.2, © 1985, Gregory Amenoff
Chamber
Date1985
color woodcut on paper
Not on view
Sean Scully, Block, 1986, woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2001.79.15, © 1986, Sean Scully
Block
Date1986
woodcut on paper
Not on view
Sean Scully, Standing 1, 1986, woodcut on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the artist, 2001.79.13, © 1986, Sean Scully
Standing 1
Date1986
woodcut on paper
Not on view

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