Sonya Clark

Over the next few months an incredible public art project from @sysclark and @monument_lab is centering the descendants of those who were enslaved by Thomas Jefferson. This artwork is located at the site where he drafted the Declaration of Independence. Among those who Jefferson enslaved was Robert Hemmings. Jefferson brought Hemmings to Philadelphia while he worked on the Declaration of Independence. And you’ll hear more about him in Part 2. #PhillyPublicArt

“Hairdressers are my heroes. The poetry and politics of Black hair care specialists are central to my work as an artist and educator. Rooted in a rich legacy, their hands embody an ability to map a head with a comb and manipulate the fiber we grow into complex form. These artists have mastered a craft impossible for me to take for granted” - Sonya Clark (@sysclark ) Sonya Clark’s “The Hair Craft Project” was a unique collaboration between the artist and Black hairstylists, who embody their own distinct form of artistry. Recognizing the stylists as fellow textile artists, Clark has noted that hairdressing was the first textile art form. Using her own head as a canvas, she partnered with the stylists to dismantle the barrier between hair salons and art institutions, revealing both as spaces of craft, skill, improvisation, aesthetics, and commerce. Each meticulously crafted hair design was documented through photography and paired with a complementary textile panel that the hairstylists intricately created on canvas. “The Hair Craft Project” builds upon Clark’s previous work with sculptural fiber wigs, a practice she began as a student at Cranbrook Academy of Art while delving into the broader cultural significance of braiding. These works showcase Clark’s deep appreciation for hairstyling as an art form and bring to light the remarkable creativity inherent in this ritualized practice, which has been passed down through generations. See “The Hair Craft Project” on view in Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other, through September 22. #sonyaclark #weareeachother #sonyaclarkmad #Blackhair #haircraftproject

[Watermelon World, 2014] The world stands with you. I stand with you. I made this piece a decade ago not knowing it was for you. Now I know it is. #freepalestine #ceasefirenow🇵🇸 #endgenocide

Here’s the second half of my conversation with @sysclark about her public art project with @monument_lab , “The Descendants of Monticello”. On view now through September 2024 at 7th and Market Streets in Philadelphia. #PhillyPublicArt #RobertHemmings

“Why is it that I know one of the many Confederate battle flags so well that I could draw it for you now, but I don’t know the piece of cloth that was pressed into service to end the Civil War? Why don’t I know that? And what can I do about it?” - Sonya Clark (@sysclark ) While #Juneteenth commemorates the day in 1865 when Union soldiers finally arrived in Galveston, TX, and announced that the Civil War was over and slavery was abolished, Sonya Clark’s Monumental Cloth, The Flag We Should Know, shines a light on an obscure object that played an outsized role in ending the war. When Clark was a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow at the @amhistorymuseum , she came across a fragment of the Confederate flag of truce—a common dishtowel—displayed next to President Lincoln’s top hat. The dishtowel was used by Gen. Robert E. Lee to negotiate the Confederate Army’s terms of surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9th, 1865. Clark’s encounter with the humble cloth had a profound impact on the artist, and it inspired the Monumental Cloth, The Flag We Should Know series. The project forces us to ask, “What if this were the symbol that endured?” It challenges us to rethink the hateful legacy of the Confederate battle flag: what if the lasting symbol was one of the full defeat of Confederate ideology and recognition of slavery as a key cause of the war? What if Black humanity were celebrated rather than denigrated? The series of works that resulted reproduce the truce flag at different scales with the goal of challenging the pervasive visibility and power of the Confederate battle flag. We invite you to the Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other galleries today from 2-6 p.m. for activations of Clark’s interactive and tactile communal art projects, which challenge us to examine the country’s historical imbalances and racial injustices through material transformation.

👁️Sneak peek of Declaration House, our latest public art and history exhibition at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia featuring Sonya Clark’s public artwork “The Descendants of Monticello,” public programs, and a pop-up Welcome Station outside the historic house throughout the summer. Join us for the public unveiling of the exhibition on June 24 from 5-8pm, as a part of Wawa Welcome America. This event is free and open to the public. RSVP at the link in bio. Major support for Declaration House has been provided by @pewcenterarts , with additional support from @viaartfund and the National Endowment for the Arts. Project partners include Independence National Historical Park and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation’s Monticello and its Getting Word African American Oral History Project. Video by @ming_media

The Bluest Eye prints are all done! The Huest Eye (2023)The Bluest, Twisted (2023) Available at and published through @goya_contemporary_gallery 🤎🙏🏾 printer: Judith Solodkin 🤎🙏🏾 #ToniMorrison also supported efforts to #freePalestine . Her earliest words have been with me for a long time. I’ve read The Bluest Eye almost every year since high school. ‘The Huest Eye’ is an embroidery on paper of each color mentioned in the book by length of the word. ‘The Bluest, Twisted’ is a #lithograph of every page transliterated into my hair font, Twist, printed on one sheet. Morrison, a #natural hair advocate, died in 2019, the same year the C.R.O.W.N. Act was drafted. Down to the #hair on each head, #freedom matters. #color #colorful #black #blackartist #blackart #blackwriters #thebluesteye #blackwomen #printmaking #twist #blackhair #alphabet #artist #blackliterature #thebluesteye

#weareeachother #museumofartsanddesign #collaboration #collaborativeart #freepalestine

During her recent visit to #DelArt , collection artist Sonya Clark @sysclark offered her reflections on the There Is a Woman in Every Color exhibition. Catch the show before it closes on May 26th—this is the final opportunity to experience it. #sonyaclark

Have you discovered @sysclark_ !!re!!_039;s exhibition at the @madmuseum yet? Highlighting thirty years of artmaking dedicated to the Black experience in America, Sonya Clark: We Are Each Other is the first comprehensive survey of the communal art projects that form the heart of the artist’s pioneering creative practice. The accompanying catalogue is the first publication to document and contextualise Clark’s large-scale, collaborative art works. These projects demonstrate Clark’s career-long commitment to addressing the urgent issue of racial inequality in U.S. society and her philosophy of creatively engaging the viewer in reflection on the nation’s history of slavery and our roles in dismantling systemic racism today. Get your copy in person at @thestoreatmad or online! Visit the Museum of Arts and Design before September 22, 2024 to experience Sonya Clark's impactful exhibition.

Two weeks later, still celebrating this abundance of loving community. You all are endlessly special to me.Thanks for making my birthday a rainbow in the midst of this stormy world. 🩷

57 and what a year it’s been! March 23, on a soaking wet evening in #Harlem beloved folks from near and far (some came across oceans) gathered to eat delicious West African food, celebrate life, and be joyful together @itsteranga_ restaurant. So many of my chapters were represented even from the very first line. My late mother’s childhood friend, Auntie Sybil, said “I remember the day you were born” 🥹 What a gift, to have my story filled with you beautiful souls. Grateful for every line, (every line dance too), every day, and each one of you. My heart is filled with love for y’all. (Thank you @aminomnom , Paulette Young, and Darryl Harper for making this #happybirthday party happen 🤎🙏🏾)