Frederick Anderson Pre-Fall 2022

Pre-fall took Frederick Anderson on a personal journey. Intent on exploring the complexities of American identity within his work, Anderson began to examine his family’s history, unearthing a series of surprises in the process. “In my family, we were always told that we were Black and Native American, so I wanted to do a tribute to the original Americans,” Anderson explained. “I had two uncles who were both very pale with long hair, and that was [attributed] to their Indigenous ancestry. Once I began researching where we all come from, I discovered that was a lie. Miscegenation laws meant Blacks and whites weren’t allowed to intermingle; it was illegal, so everyone said they were Native American to get around that fact. America is built on these kinds of lies, and once you start uncovering them, you see things in a different light.” Eventually, Anderson would discover that he has Nigerian and Irish ancestry. Few things are more American than being descended from immigrants and having to reckon with the nation’s history of racial injustice. Still, the revelation got Anderson thinking about how he could accurately reflect an America that is less melting pot and more pressure cooker. “I had to figure out how my story could be represented visually,” he said. “I’d started with red, white, and blue but ended up working with Irish green and a series of colors that were just slightly off. We had the flag’s stripes but none of the stars; I wanted to deconstruct things and turn everything upside down.”