Project Description

The Birther Chair | Political Works | Cheryl Harper

THE BIRTHER CHAIR

Date: 2009-2012

Medium: Wood, Stoneware, Fabric Rhinestones, Acrylic Paint and Metal Leaf

Size: 36″ h  x 22″ w x 19″ d

Description: This work is about the “birther controversy” and is inspired by a proto Renaissance altarpiece. Obama’s mother with a halo of the state of Hawaii sits with her child, Barack, on her lap. The palm trees are symbolic of Seraphim and Cherubim. The back of the piece quotes the constitution stating who has the right to run for the presidency along with the seal of Kenya and the relevant information from the President’s birth certificate. The predella contains the predictors of the president’s future office including Frederick Douglass, Edward Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Thomas Jefferson.