The Signing,

2018, printed 2022

What I wanted to do was take a revisionist look at Howard Chandler Christy’s Signing of the Constitution from 1940 and replace it with people of color. It was important to have it grounded in its historical look of 1787, with some colonial costumes, and also to use contemporary clothing to round out the assemblage of people, in this way redoing or flipping the script, as I call it. In the photograph, I’ve included my two sons, and also friends, artists, and others. The setting is the library at the Andrew Freedman Home in the Bronx. The image is not so much about the photography, it’s about the production of what you’re putting in front of the camera. It required a lot, from casting and costuming to the furniture, the flag—everything that gives you that feeling of recreation but operating within its own sort of original space.

Renée Cox, artist

Comparative Image:

Howard Chandler Christy (1873–1952; born Morgan County, OH; died New York, NY)
Signing of the Constitution, 1940
Oil on canvas, 6.1 x 9.1 m.
Architect of the Capitol, United States Capitol Building, Washington, DC