For Which It Stands is an evolving physical and online exhibition platform featuring contemporary artists using the iconic American flag, loaded with centuries of convoluted history and exclusion, to create new symbols of national identity. 

Amid a highly volatile political climate and rise in white nationalism, these artists assert their place and affirm the multiplicity of the American experience while addressing issues of police brutality, systemic racism, socioeconomic disparities, alternative facts, and a patriarchal society, among others. 

Launched by the Ford Foundation Gallery and presented by Assembly Room, this independent, activist-oriented initiative by curators Emily Alesandrini, Natasha Becker, and Eileen Jeng Lynch features talks, performances, and presentations of artworks in physical and online spaces.

Each week, For Which It Stands engages different artists and curators in virtual and real time conversations and initiatives. 

October 5, 2020 - December 5, 2020

Curated by: Emily Alesandrini, Natasha Becker, and Eileen Jeng Lynch

EXHIBITING ARTISTS

Anthony Akinbola
Donna Bassin
Sanford Biggers
Mel Chin
Abigail DeVille
Tasha Dougé
June Edmonds
Jeffrey Gibson
daaPo réo
Tajh Rust
Tariku Shiferaw
Kiyan Williams
Sandy Williams IV
Stephanie J. Woods

About the curators:

Emily Alesandrini is a curator, writer, and advocate working in Philadelphia and New York. Her research concerns contemporary representations of race and gender with a particular focus on issues of displacement, marginalization, and the body in art by women and artists of color. She has contributed to exhibition planning and publications at Wave Hill, The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, and The Art Institute of Chicago.

Natasha Becker is an independent curator and one of the founding curators of Assembly Room, a curatorial platform in New York to support independent women curators. With expertise in contemporary African art, her research, writing, and curatorial practice focuses on politically engaged art. She recently co-curated “Living in America” at the esteemed International Print Center New York and organized “A Perfect Storm” as curator in residence at Faction Art Projects in Harlem. Previously she co-curated “Perilous Bodies,” and “Radical Love,” at the distinguished Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice to inaugurate their new art gallery in New York. 

Eileen Jeng Lynch is the Curator of Visual Arts at Wave Hill, where she curates the Sunroom Project Space for emerging artists and organizes exhibitions in Glyndor Gallery and Wave Hill House as well as the Winter Workspace program. Jeng Lynch is also the founder of Neumeraki, which collaborates with artists, organizations, and galleries on curatorial, consulting, writing, and editing projects. Jeng Lynch works with artists on career growth and development and has curated exhibitions in various galleries and nonprofit institutions over the last 12 years. Recently, Jeng Lynch launched Art Off-Screen, an international exhibition of artwork and performances in outward-facing locations, as well as the Give Voice Postcard Project, an ongoing grassroots, multi-state, advocacy initiative since 2017. Previously, she worked at RxArt, Sperone Westwater, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Jeng Lynch earned her MA in Arts Administration and Policy from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and BA in Art History and Advertising from Syracuse University.