My Country Needs Me…

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Rodney Ewing

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• n 1996n

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• n Offset Lithographn

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• n Image/sheet: 29.5 x 30″n

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• n 80 prints in this editionn

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About the Print

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From the Artist

The idea behind the print was not only to talk about the state of the African American in United States as far as being a resource, but also trying to use the main image as a way of reclaiming and controlling an image that far too many “others” have exploited (i.e. media, history, fiction, science).
_{—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records}

As an artist, it is more important to create a platform that moves us past alliances, and begins a dialogue that informs, questions, and in some cases even satirizes our divisive issues. Without this type of introspection, we are in danger of having apathy rule our senses. We can easily succumb to a national mob mentality and ignore individual accounts and memories. With my work I am creating an intersection where body and place, memory and fact, are merged to reexamine human interactions and cultural conditions to create a narrative that requires us to be present and profound.
_{—From https://www.rodneyewing.com, accessed 6-16-2021}

The quotation used in this print comes from an essay on the origins and abuse of racial and gender-based epithets, “Mama’s Baby, Papa’s Maybe: An American Grammar Book,” by African American feminist literary critic Hortense Spillers. The words, juxtaposed with a disjointed face (a combined image of a black boxer and an African mask) and a background reminiscent of an American flag, allude to the ways in which African Americans are categorized and presented, and the resulting impact on our culture.
—From https://www.philamuseum.org/collection/object/307024, accessed 6-16-2021

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Rodney Ewing

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American
nBorn November 20, 1964n

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About the Artist

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Rodney Ewing is a printmaker based in San Francisco, CA. He earned a BFA from Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, and an MFA from West Virginia University, Morgantown.

Ewing’s practice focuses on intersecting the body, place, memory, and fact to reexamine human histories and cultural traditions. Ewing’s work has been exhibited at the Euphrat Museum of Art, Cupertino, CA; The Drawing Center, New York City; and The Jack Fischer Gallery, New York City. Ewing teaches at San Francisco Day School. 
_{—From Brandywine Workshop and Archives records; bio written by TK Smith, curator}