Octoroon
Artist
Sonya Clark
(American, born 1967)
Date2018
MediumCanvas and thread
DimensionsTotal: 85 3/8 × 38 1/4 × 2 in. (216.9 × 97.2 × 5.1 cm)
Canvas only: 67 3/8 × 38 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (171.1 × 97.2 × 3.2 cm)
Canvas only: 67 3/8 × 38 1/4 × 1 1/4 in. (171.1 × 97.2 × 3.2 cm)
ClassificationsContemporary art
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number2020.6
On View
Not on viewLabel TextSonya Clark American, b. 1967 Octoroon, 2018 Canvas and thread Octoroon, the title of this two-dimensional fiber sculpture of the United States flag, is an antiquated and discriminatory term referring to the nineteenth-century Jim Crow racial classification system. The law stated anyone with one African American great-grandparent was classified as African American. Thus, octoroon referred to anyone with one-eighth African American ancestry. Clark, however, had one Scottish great-grandmother but would never have been considered White as the reverse racial classifications did not exist. Octoroon depicts the U.S. flag in eight sections, a physical manifestation of this racist historical law. Clark believes fiber is a material embedded with meaning and history. She centers her practice on using materials like cotton to reference its relationship to U.S. history, material production, race, and craft traditions. In Octoroon, she stitched the bare canvas with threads and braided the material together to resemble hair while leaving other threads loose. The cotton threads also represent African American women’s hair and the long-standing sociopolitical challenges surrounding it. Museum purchase 2020.6
