Sweet Land

Related Content

• Night Day: Calendar Picks for 5/9
  May 9, 2008

More About

• William Ray
• Kit Hinrichs

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

Today, when the appearance of a flag pin can absorb an entire news cycle, it's good to remember people like William Ray, a Navy sailor who literally dipped himself in patriotic tattoos. Of course, that was in 1930, when unrepentant displays of American symbols didn't make one a de facto member of Hannity's America. Composed of 75 items, the exhibit "American Symbols: From Lady Liberty to the Stars and Stripes" offers a nostalgic look at our nation's love affair with its own iconography, featuring everything from paintings and photos to quilts, pins, toys, and boots. There's also a flag made of money and a photo of ten thousand cadets on a Navy base in Illinois, intricately arranged in a fluttering human flag. The pieces transmit a wide variety of sentiment, pushing war and peace, celebration and protest, along with the very American impulse to sell something, from a battle on foreign soil to a can of peas. The exhibit also celebrates the American collector: The entire thing is drawn from the personal hoard of San Francisco resident Kit Hinrichs, a graphic designer and Eagle Scout who spent 40 years picking up more than 3,000 items, starting with the flag made by his great-great-great grandmother in 1865.
May 8-Aug. 3, 2008