“I started using the word ‘America’ because I was interested in Charles Dickens’ novel A Tale of Two Cities. The novel has a very famous opening paragraph. He says, ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.’ And I began thinking about how America was at the same place, that we were living in a society that could elect an African-American president, but also we are in the midst of two wars and a crippling recession.” —Glenn Ligon
As the Fourth of July weekend comes to a close, it is enlightening to look back at Ligon and Whitney curator Scott Rothkopf discussing his America neon signs and his body of work in response to James Baldwin’s essay “Stranger in the Village.” This video was produced in conjunction with the Whitney’s 2011 exhibition Glenn Ligon: AMERICA.