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 (7 items)

Miles Burkholder Carpenter, Bull's Head, 1972, carved and painted wood, rubber, and thread, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.234
Bull’s Head
Date1972
carved and painted wood, rubber, and thread
On view
Miles Burkholder Carpenter, Self-Portrait (Indian Brave), 1967, wood, wool, linen, feathers, metal, paint and fur, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1993.40A-C
Self-Portrait (Indian Brave)
Date1967
wood, wool, linen, feathers, metal, paint and fur
Not on view
Miles Burkholder Carpenter, WATER GATE, 1974, carved and painted wood, metal, paper, rubber hose, rubber bands, string, sawdust, and ballpoint pen and ink, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.237
WATER GATE
Date1974
carved and painted wood, metal, paper, rubber hose, rubber bands, string, sawdust, and ballpoint pen and ink
Not on view
Miles Burkholder Carpenter, Root Monster, 1968, carved and painted tree roots, rubber, metal, and string, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.238
Root Monster
Date1968
carved and painted tree roots, rubber, metal, and string
Not on view

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