RODNEY EWING

SUM OF MY FATHER
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Sum of My Father was installed in the exhibition Artifacts at the National Veterans Art Museum in 2018. Sum of My Father was originally commissioned by the San Francisco Art Commission for the Not Alone: Exploring Bonds Between and With Members of the Armed Forces exhibit in 2017.

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Sum of My Father consists of twenty Army green blankets folded with military precision as a tribute to Ewing’s father, who fought in Vietnam and served twenty years in the Air Force. Ewing said that he folded the blankets in the same way that the American flag that his mother now has for his father, is folded. 

Ewing, a veteran, writes, “Place is more than just a geographic reference point, it holds our memories, establishes our identities, and is the foundation for our future. Without a person’s ability to establish roots, they become bystanders of their own existence. The concepts of departure, wandering, and disappearance have been part of African American culture since the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade. What happens if all physical trace of your ancestors has been removed? What do you call home?” 

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