WITHOUT YOU I’M NOTHING

Copied 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 1⁄4 × 7 1⁄2 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
Artist
Date
2018
Location
Dimensions
121 × 74 1⁄4 × 7 1⁄2 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
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
Highlights
Keywords
  • Dress — ceremonial
Object Number
2020.5.3
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2020.5.3

Artwork Description

Move around the three garments suspended above you. How might it feel to put one of them on?

Jeffrey Gibson based these oversized tunics on the Ghost Shirts worn by members of the nineteenth-century Sioux Lakota Tribe, who believed they could summon ancestral spirits and deflect bullets. Of Indigenous heritage himself, Gibson was drawn to the idea of a garment that transformed its wearer. He saw parallels to the way people approach clothing today: putting on a uniform, dressing in drag, or donning a special outfit to go out dancing.

Resting across tipi poles, the garments are adorned with sequins and jingles and emblazoned with the lyrics of pop songs. 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. As the title of one garment proclaims, "without you I'm nothing."