05/14/2026
"My name is Lauren King, and I am a development officer at the CMA — I’ve been here for four years this month! I manage the museum’s grant funding strategy, applications, and reporting. I worked with CMA Senior Curator Michael Neumeister on several grant applications for Rodney McMillian: A Son of the Soil, and we were thrilled to receive the support of Teiger Foundation, Terra Foundation, and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the exhibition.
"I chose Untitled (flag) VI for several reasons. First of all, the hand-stitched text, while it references multiple dates — from the 1965 voting rights march to the author's parole in 1999, and the quote given in 2004 — remains incredibly relevant today. Voting rights continue to be in the news, including just recently with the Supreme Court’s opinion on the Louisiana v. Callais case. Like with so many pieces in A Son of the Soil, in this piece, McMillian uses art to highlight and rebuke longstanding, and ongoing, social injustices that disproportionately effect people of color.
"The other reason I chose it is more personal. I do various forms of needlework, and I have a B.A. in historic preservation, and those two things have combined into an interest in historic embroidery and fiber arts. When I first saw Untitled (flag) VI, I was surprised to find that it reminded me of an 1830s-era cross-stitch piece in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Made by a teenage girl named Elizabeth Parker, that piece is stitched with red thread on cloth and in 64 lines tells the often-tragic story of Parker’s life in domestic service, including abuse by her employers. Aside from the visual similarity between the two pieces because of the red lettering, I was struck by the fact that both artists chose to use embroidery to capture and communicate deeply personal experiences that continue to resonate today."
Rodney McMillian (American, b. 1969)
Untitled (flag) VI, 2012
Burlap, thread, plaster, ad latex
Courtesy of the artist, Vielmetter Los Angeles, and Petzel, New York
On view in Gallery 2 of Rodney McMillian: A Son of the Soil
See the Parker piece >>>
https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O70506/sampler-parker-elizabeth/
