The Green Book

Copied Ife Felix, The Green Book, 2016, cotton fabric, polyester, and cotton batt, 50 1⁄2 × 48 3⁄8 in. (128.3 × 122.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur S. Bresler, 2023.40.17, © 2023, Ife Felix

Artwork Details

Title
The Green Book
Artist
Date
2016
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
50 1⁄2 × 48 3⁄8 in. (128.3 × 122.9 cm)
Copyright
© 2023, Ife Felix
Credit Line
Gift of Fleur S. Bresler
Mediums
Mediums Description
cotton fabric, polyester, and cotton batt
Classifications
Subjects
  • Figure group
  • Cityscape
  • Landscape — beach
  • African American
  • Travel — air — airplane
  • Travel — land — automobile
Object Number
2023.40.17
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/2023.40.17

Artwork Description

Ife Felix
born 1953, Jacksonville, FL
resides New York City

The Green Book
2016
cotton fabric, polyester, and cotton batting

Ife Felix remembers traveling as a child with her grandmother from Jacksonville, Florida, to visit family in Georgia and Louisiana. On these trips, Felix’s grandma consulted the Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide meant to help Black travelers find safe services, food, and shelter. She traveled with grace and pride, styled much like the woman on the cover of the Green Book. 

Felix placed photo transfers from the Green Book alongside excerpts from the book and from Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that everyone has a right to freedom of movement. The red, white, and blue bordering the photos calls attention to the contradiction of restricted movement in the land of the free. 

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Fleur S. Bresler, 2023.40.17

 

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