Prints
This is part of a series of prints called
"KKK gone Kross Kountry SKiing".
The images are silkscreen printed on top of "prints" by the Chapman Brothers who had drawn on top of prints by Goya. The Chapman Brothers, through drawing, added a layer of absurd images to the Goya prints (clown faces, animal ears etc etc). I added, through silkscreen, to the drawings/prints a narrative of the KKK going cross country skiing - adding hoods, outfits, skis, poles and mountain landscapes.
These portrait prints are from a series of pieces depicting the U.S. “leaders and generals” during the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). The prints were created as part of a larger narrative surrounding the life of David Fagen.
David Fagen was native of Tampa, Florida and served in the 24th Regiment of the U.S. Army, but on November 17, 1899, he defected to the Filipino army - he became a guerrilla leader.
His defection was likely a reaction to racist treatment of African-American soldiers within the United States armed forces at the time, as well as racist sentiments expressed towards the Filipino resistance, who were frequently referred to by American soldiers as "niggers" and "gugus".
After two other black deserters were captured and executed, President Theodore Roosevelt announced he would stop executing captured deserters.
As the war ended, the US gave amnesties to most of their opponents. A substantial reward was offered for Fagen, who was considered a traitor. There are two conflicting versions of his fate: one is that his was the partially decomposed head for which the reward was claimed, and the other is that he married a local woman and lived peacefully in the mountains.
