JOHN SIMS
John Sims, a Detroit native, is a multi-media artist, writer and producer, creating projects spanning the areas of mathematics, art, text, performance and political-media activism. His main projects are informed by the vocabulary of mathematical structure, the politics of sacred symbols and poetry as ally to the visual arts. The works have ranged from hanging the Confederate flag in Gettysburg (2004), to making a system of MathArt quilts with Amish quilters (2008) to the current planning of turning NYC into a clock, to organizing a 13-state burial of the Confederate flag on Memorial Day 2015. He is currently completing, "Recoloration Proclamation," a 16-year multi-media project featuring: an exhibition of recolored and hanging Confederate flags, multi-state flag funerals, a play, a documentary film, and a music project featuring 13 black versions of the song "Dixie." He has lectured and exhibited both nationally and internationally and his work has been featured in Art in America, Sculpture, Transition, FiberArts, Science News, CNN, NBC News, New York Times, USA Today, The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, The Root, The Rumpus, The Huffington Post, The Grio, and the science journal, Nature.
U.S. Activists Burn Confederate Flag on Memorial Day by Kurt Nagl.
This installation, an element of John Sims’ project, "Recoloration," was presented at the Moberg Gallery. It was first presented in the exhibition, "Gettysbury Redress" at the Schmucker Gallery at Gettysburg College in 2004.
The piece caused the Sons of Confederate Veterans to call for a national boycott on Gettysburg.
The work consists of a 6’x4’ polyester blend Confederate flag made in the USA. The flag hangs from a standard hangman’s noose made from 1” manila natural fibers. There is a metal clasp between the flag and the noose for added support. To complete the installation there is an “Auction” block for placement beneath the flag.
The Proper Way To Hang A Confederate Flag © John Sims, courtesy the artist and Moberg Gallery.