Sonya Clark’s (American, b. 1967) mixed media works use everyday objects to address tangled histories, cultural heritage, and identity. Recently, Clark has turned her attention to creating installations that coincide with national conversations about racism and violence and who “owns” history in the United States. To that end, the Phillips Museum of Art is delighted to present Clark’s new site-specific installation Sonya Clark: Finding Freedom. Clark’s installation highlights Lancaster as a location along the Underground Railroad – a network of people, safe houses, and clandestine routes used by enslaved people in the early to mid–19th century to escape into free states and Canada—and the use of the night sky, specifically the Big Dipper constellation, to orient those seeking freedom. Using cyanotype reactive fabric squares and seeds, the work was made with many workshop participants during Clark’s various residencies. She then pieced the sections together into a 1,500 square foot quilted canopy. Clark invites the community to experience a similar celestial viewpoint as those who sought freedom along the Underground Railroad.
Sonya Clark is a Professor of Art and the History of Art at Amherst College in Massachusetts and was a Distinguished Research Fellow in the School of the Arts at Virginia Commonwealth University. She earned an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art, a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a BA from Amherst College where she also received an honorary doctorate in 2015. Her work has been exhibited in over 350 museums and galleries worldwide. She is the recipient of a United States Artist Fellowship, a Pollock Krasner Award, an 1858 Prize, and an Anonymous Was a Woman Award.
