Black Artists Rework Usa Flag in 'Glory! Glory!' Exhibition Challenging 250th Anniversary Narratives
Black artists in Chicago have reimagined the usa flag in a new exhibition that intentionally unsettles a familiar national symbol. The show matters now because it is part of a year-long America 250 program that centers Black perspectives at a moment of political tension over federal arts funding and civil-rights policy.
Development details — Usa Flag depictions and exhibition logistics
"Glory! Glory!" opened on a Friday at Zhou B Art Center in the Bridgeport neighborhood and remains on view Monday through Friday from 11 a. m. to 5 p. m. through March 20. The exhibit is presented by Pigment International as part of its year-long "America 250 — We ARE the people" programming marking the nation’s 250th anniversary.
Multiple works rework the flag’s elements: some pieces remove stars, others hang the banner upside down; one replaces the stars with tufts of cotton and substitutes the white stripes with African-print fabrics. Nnaemeka Ekwelum’s piece "American't, " woven from plastic lacing material, includes military dog tags engraved with the names of Black children killed by police or otherwise harmed in the country. Ekwelum, 35, described the goal as prompting viewers to sense that "something is off" when they look at the image.
Robert Lewis Clark contributed an 11-by-8-foot mixed-media work titled "44, " which overlays an image of Barack Obama on an American flag, incorporates 44 colorful wooden stars and uses red and white stripes painted over newspapers documenting the 2008 election. Clark, 58, said the piece was created more than a decade ago with the intent to inspire achievement; he has since donated a print to the Obama Presidential Center.
Context and escalation
Pigment International, a Black-owned arts nonprofit, intentionally centered Black artists within its America 250 initiative during a period described by organizers as politically fraught. The Trump administration is encouraging artistic celebrations of the 250th anniversary while dismantling civil-rights protections and diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for Black Americans, a tension the exhibition directly addresses.
The nonprofit did not receive National Endowment for the Arts grants that the administration is awarding for anniversary-based programming. In response, Pigment International secured state funding from Rep. Kimberly du Buclet (D-Chicago), who chairs the Museum, Arts, Culture and Entertainment committee, to support the exhibit and related programming. Organizers staged a panel discussion led by Devorah Crable as part of the show’s opening events.
Immediate impact
The exhibition’s imagery is designed to provoke discomfort and conversation. By altering the flag—removing stars, inverting its presentation, substituting traditional materials with African prints or cotton tufts—artists are framing patriotism as a contested experience for Black Americans. Patricia Andrews-Keenan, founder of Pigment International, framed this as a tension between pride and the recognition of historical and continuing injustice: "I’m patriotic. Sometimes that can be a little bit of a conflict because I know the good parts of our history and I know the bad parts of our history, but it’s still our history. "
Works such as Ekwelum’s "American't" make the stakes tangible by attaching names to dog tags, connecting symbol alteration to documented harm. The exhibition is open to weekday visitors at the Bridgeport venue, creating a public forum for viewing and discussion during the run.
Forward outlook
The show runs through March 20, with weekday gallery hours maintained to allow continued public engagement. It remains a component of Pigment International’s wider America 250 programming, which will continue throughout the anniversary year. What makes this notable is that the exhibition pairs a formal commemoration of 250 years with artworks that deliberately unsettle a core national emblem, forcing an explicit conversation about who is included in celebratory narratives and how public funding choices shape which stories are amplified.
Organizers have already pivoted funding strategies in light of federal grant decisions, and the exhibit’s scheduled run offers a concrete timeline for additional public visits and associated events that the nonprofit will host as part of its year-long initiative.
