Life, Handle with Care appropriates the design and form of a shipping label. Thomas alters the customary text by replacing “Fragile” with “Life” so that it reads: “This Side Up LIFE Handle with Care.”
Thomas shifts symbols and language and reintroduces them into contexts that create new readings and meaning. In art institutions these shipping labels are ubiquitous, affixed to every crate transporting artwork. Extreme care is given to inanimate objects as they are circulated around the world. Thomas’s flag asks us to question–what about people who are living and breathing in our communities? Can we give them as much care as we do to art objects? How do we attend to the needs of our fellow citizens? The red-hot color of the flag is a burning call to reconsider what care looks like today.
Ballroom is thrilled to present limited edition flags by artists Lisa Alvarado, Jeffrey Gibson, Byron Kim, Kameelah Janan Rasheed, Hank Willis Thomas, Naama Tsabar, and Cecilia Vicuña based on their original commissions for the exhibition unFlagging.
Raise your artist flag wherever you are, and support Ballroom Marfa! Proceeds from the editions ensure that Ballroom continues to commission new work from artists, musicians, and visionary thinkers of all backgrounds. Please check below to see when works are available for purchase.
Contact development@ballroommarfa.org with questions.
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