American People #19: US Postage Stamp Commemorating the Advent of Black Power 1967

Faith Ringgold made this painting with acrylic on canvas, creating a grid of faces within the blue and black border of a US postage stamp. I’m wondering what it was like for Ringgold to paint all those faces, row upon row. Each is slightly different, but they’re all made with the same economical brushstrokes. The paint is applied pretty thinly, with just enough detail to suggest individuality. I’m thinking about the artist's hand, moving again and again, building up this community of faces. You can see words and letters emerging from behind the sea of faces. What did Ringgold want us to see? And what does it mean to commemorate something on a postage stamp? I'm thinking about other artists who have used repetition and the grid in their paintings, like Agnes Martin or Chuck Close. Ringgold’s work has a different feel though, more personal and political, perhaps because of the way she combines figuration and text. There’s something about the intimacy of the faces that draws me in. It is a conversation on a canvas.