Exhibitions
Leon Reid IV
b. 1979 in Richmond, VA.
Lives and works in Brooklyn, NY
True Yank is a site-specific intervention surrounding the statue likeness of Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth president of the United States and pivotal figure to race relations in America. "True Yank" is an update of Lincoln's clothing to reflect contemporary Afro-American influenced fashion from New York City and other cities of the historical Union.
The title "True Yank" refers to the slang word "Yankee" as it applies to the American Civil war; any Union soldier or resident from the North of which Lincoln was Commander-in-chief.
The installation is in Lincoln square, Manchester on temporary display during April 2009.
Listen to a BBC Radio Manchester interview about Leon Reid's True Yank. Click Here
Images
True Yank (proposal sketch) 2008, courtesy of the artist
Commissioned by Urbis.