KKK Hoods Fashioned Out Of American Flag Turning Heads
Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – A new art exhibit about to go on display at a South Florida Gallery – already has some people doing a double-take.
From a distance it may appear to have a patriotic message, but it's something else entirely.
"I don't think that any art… that KKK symbol with the U.S. flag. I don't believe that's a piece of art. I think it is racism," said Willie Sanders.
Sanders is talking about the three Ku Klux Klan hoods fashioned out of the American flag on displayed University of Miami Faculty Exhibition in Wynwood.
The installation is titled: "American Mask."
"I'm rejecting everything. The flag being ripped up. The design. How it is made. I am against all of that. I don't like it," Sanders said.
The artist, Billie Grace Lynn, also has plenty to say.
Lynn, a specialist in socially engaging art and interactive sculptures, says her work was inspired by all that went down in Charlottesville – the white nationalist rally that lead to violence.
"It was clear to me that white nationalists were taking our American flag and turning it into an image of white supremacy. I wanted to use the piece as a mirror to what I could see happening in the country," she said.
The soft sculptures and the presentation are designed to provoke conversation. Not everyone is happy about it, but that's the point.
"I think art can be a very powerful way to talk about what going on in the country. That's what I was trying to do with the work," Lynn said.
But Sanders still isn't buying it.
"I definitely do not like what they did to my country's flag. I don't like it at all," he said.
