Two Billy Morrow Jackson African American Black Americana prints. Priced to sell

Description

Two rare BILLY MORROW JACKSON PRINTS at one an unbelievable price.
Tattooed Man
This image of Uncle Sam with a Top Hat partially (half) covering his face implies a degree of
“shadiness”
. Uncle Sam has multiple tattoos on his arms and completely covering his torso. The tats on his torso have the faces of four little girls: Addie Mae Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Robertson who were killed September 15th, 1963 at the 16th Baptist Church bombing.
The Uncle Sam figure suggests that the government and the country are complicit and
“inextricably linked”
to their murder and are indelibly marked by the
“stains”
(tattoos) of violence and racism.
Prometheus Ballet
In
“Prometheus Ballet”
Jackson references mythology—the story of Prometheus who was punished for bringing fire to the people—a symbol of enlightenment, hope, and independence.
As punishment, Prometheus was chained to Mount Caucasus for eternity. Vultures would eat his liver daily. The liver would regenerate overnight, and the cycle would begin again the next day. In this image, Jackson casts Martin Luther King as Prometheus holding the goblet of fire.
George Wallace, the former governor of Alabama, was cast in the role of the vulture. Governor Wallace was most famous for blocking the admission to the University of Alabama of Vivian Malone and James Hood by
“standing in the schoolhouse door”
.