1 in 3 in USA


1 in 3 in USA

Artist: Linda Kim

Title: 1 in 3 in USA

Attribution: 1 in 3 in USA, 2020, Linda M Kim

Year: 2020

Materials: Recycled tablecloth, cotton, found fabric, thread, batting

Dimensions: 51 x 38.5 inches

Image Statement: One in three Black males will go to prison in their lifetime. The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in 1865 but a loophole clause allowed for enslavement if convicted of a crime. The result is staggering racial disparities in American legislative and criminal justice systems. The U.S. has 4% of the global population but has 25% of global prison population – the most of any nation with 2.2 million people incarcerated and an additional 4.5 million people on probation or parole. Black Americans make up 13% of general population but 34% under the control of the criminal justice system. I designed a simple weave pattern to best illustrate Black lives in mass incarceration, as well, to conjure images of abstracted African masks – a symbol of ancestral spirits.