Black American Heritage Flag (After Melvin Charles and Gleason T Jackson)

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While I was an Artist-in-Residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 2002-2003, I encountered someone on the street selling an African-American flag. It immediately caught my attention.

The flag used the red, black and green of the Pan-African flag, but in a different arrangement from David Hammons' African-American flag. As I began finding other variations created by different individuals, I became interested in their origins, meanings and differences.

I began researching and documenting these flags and their designers, which became the foundation for this series of paintings. Each painting is titled after the flag and the person who designed it.

For me, these works explore how simple arrangements of color and form can carry complex ideas about identity, history, belonging and representation. Together, the paintings create a dialogue about the evolving African-American experience across space and time.

Ultimately, the project explores how symbols are created, transformed and given meaning, and how those meanings can shift between individuals, communities and generations.

Price upon request. Inquire about this work through Marina Borghi Fine Art.