Image

James Montford

Holocaust Blankets with Smallpox

Description

Maker

James Montford (American, b. 1951)

Title

Holocaust Blankets with Smallpox

Year

2015

Medium

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

Dimensions

Dimensions variable

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Museum purchase: gift of Joseph A. Chazan, MD

Object Number

2015.100

Type

Projects & Publications

Publications

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Phantom of Liberty
Contemporary Works in the RISD Museum Collection
May 04, 2018 – Dec 30, 2018

Label copy

Holocaust Blankets with Smallpox is part of a larger body of work focused on the notion of who “owns” the use of the word holocaust. . . . I see this as being part of a longstanding tradition in art of addressing inequality, injustice, and intolerance, reaching as far back as Goya’s time-honored painting The Third of May 1808. As a Black Indian, the oppression I have experienced is due, in part, to the ongoing power we subscribe to hate words. I created this work to present a multilayered approach to the demystification of racial, ethnic, and gender-based discrimination.

-James Montford

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Tombstone

James Montford (American, b. 1951)
Holocaust Blankets with Smallpox, 2015
Cotton and wool blankets, vinyl lettering
Dimensions variable
Museum purchase: gift of Joseph A. Chazan, MD 2015.100

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