WITHOUT YOU I’M NOTHING

Jeffrey Gibson, WITHOUT YOU I'M NOTHING, 2018, polyester satin, neoprene, polyester, acrylic felt, canvas, acrylic paint, assorted glass, plastic, stone, and bone beads, brass grommets, acrylic yarn, batting, polyester laces, artificial sinew, and tipi poles , 121 × 74 14 × 7 12 in. (307.3 × 188.6 × 19.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2020.5.3, © 2019, Jeffrey Gibson

Artwork Details

Title
WITHOUT YOU I’M NOTHING
Date
2018
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
121 × 74 14 × 7 12 in. (307.3 × 188.6 × 19.1 cm)
Copyright
© 2019, Jeffrey Gibson
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
Mediums Description
polyester satin, neoprene, polyester, acrylic felt, canvas, acrylic paint, assorted glass, plastic, stone, and bone beads, brass grommets, acrylic yarn, batting, polyester laces, artificial sinew, and tipi poles
Classifications
Subjects
  • Dress — ceremonial
Object Number
2020.5.3

Artwork Description

With colorful, oversized tunics Jeffrey Gibson asks, "Can a garment be a statement? Can a garment be a sculpture? Can a garment be political?"

The works are adorned with sequins, jingles, protest images, and song lyrics, as well as intricate beadwork characteristic of Choctaw tribal traditions and a rainbow color scheme common to contemporary powwow regalia.  For Gibson, each element represents a building block of identity--a public marker of how others see us and how we come to know ourselves.

Gibson is a citizen of the Mississippi band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent.  But apart from attending community gatherings and powwows, he wasn't raised within a Native community.  As such, he would ask himself, "'Am I a participant?' 'Am I an observer?' 'Where do I stand in there?'"  He describes feeling like an outsider, as he and his family traveled around the world with his civil engineer father, moving from Colorado to Germany to New Jersey, Korea, and Maryland.  He has said that "this kind of movement through different forms of identity has made me grow and see the world in a very broad way."

Gibson's garments were inspired by the shirts worn by Lakota people as part of the Ghost Dance spiritual movement in the nineteenth century.  For those who practiced it, the dance was intended to summon ancestral spirits, return to traditional ways of life, and repel colonizers from Native land.  Gibson was drawn to the notion of garments that could transform and bestow power on the wearer.  As a young gay man, this image helped him connect to communities and ideas greater than himself, and to construct a larger-than-life vision of identity based on the histories and experiences that shaped him.

Works by this artist (4 items)

Charles White, The Children, 1950, ink and graphite on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Julie Seitzman and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2009.13
The Children
Date1950
ink and graphite on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Love Letter, 1971, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of June Wayne, 1991.179.14, © 1971, Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles
Love Letter
Date1971
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Love Letter, 1971, color lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of June Wayne, 1991.179.15, © 1971, Heritage Gallery, Los Angeles
Love Letter
Date1971
color lithograph on paper
Not on view
Charles White, Hasty B, 1970, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1979.155.1
Hasty B
Date1970
lithograph on paper
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

Lee Godie, To the Dynamic Sarlo (Woman in Red with Decorated Hat), 1960s, oil and acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1997.124.22
To the Dynamic Sarlo (Woman in Red with Decorated Hat)
Date1960s
oil and acrylic on canvas
Not on view
Barry Dalgleish, Interior with Trunk, 1984, acrylic and oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.84.2
Interior with Trunk
Date1984
acrylic and oil on canvas
Not on view
Stanley Edwards, Infant in Altar IV, 1965, oil and acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David K. Anderson, Martha Jackson Memorial Collection, 1980.137.24
Infant in Altar IV
Date1965
oil and acrylic on canvas
Not on view