Faith Ringgold Proposal

Research Proposal

After discussing Faith Ringgold in our class, I could not stop observing the American People Series #20: Die for its expressive characters, the chaotic movement that  transcends from the canvas, and the political messages Ringgold conveys through her work.  By looking at the canvas, we can infer that Ringgold depicts a violent racial riot. From a very preliminary research, I learned that Ringgold created the piece during the devastating four-day riots in Detroit and Newark in 1967 that resulted in more than 80 deaths and hundreds of injuries. I want to conduct a further research to find out more details about the people and the events that influenced her work. I hope to be able to unfold more political messages Ringgold depicts through the social unrest presented in Die. This research will deepen my knowledge on the racial riots and race relations in the 1960’s America. I will also spend more time analysing the visual techniques Ringgold used to create such an impactful piece and, hopefully, will get more familiar with her other works during the course of my research.