April 9th, 2026 — Why do we all know the Confederate Battle Flag and not the Confederate Flag of Truce? This is the question baked into Sonya Clark’s (CRF 2012) creation of Many—one hundred handwoven replicas of the simple white dishcloth the Confederacy used to surrender at Appomattox this week 161 years ago, on April 9th, 1865. Monumental is a massive version 100 times the original size. Both these works were created in partnership with the Fabric Workshop and Museum (FWM) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and exhibited as part of her exhibition Monumental Cloth, The Flag We Should Know while she was in residence in 2019.
This became a communal project, inviting the public to weave flags on shared looms and fostering a global dialogue about democracy through art and social media. Today, Monumental is in the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s permanent collection, a stone’s throw away from the White House.
Sonya, recently awarded the 2026 Gold Medal for Consummate Craftsmanship from the American Craft Council, draws on everyday materials to investigate how our assignment of meaning to objects reflects our personal and collective attitudes. “By elevating this humble cloth,” she writes, “we challenge the endurance of white supremacy and highlight the ongoing work required to protect our democracy from authoritarianism.” The two artist edition prints seen here—Confederate Truce Flag: monumental dishtowel (2024), and Confederate, surrender (2022)—continue the conversation that Sonya began during her FWM residency.
Two Artist Edition Prints
Two artist edition prints (seen here) continue the conversation that Sonya began during her FWM residency:
Confederate Truce Flag: monumental dishtowel (2024), available at Fabric Workshop and Museum, is a call for the surrender of white supremacy and the systems that uphold it. Produced in a large edition of 1865—the year of the Confederate surrender—it raises the forgotten flag that signaled the end of the American Civil War and the eventual end of slavery in the US. It can be used as a dishtowel, flown as a flag, or framed as an artwork.
Confederate, surrender (2022), available at Lisa Sette Gallery and Goya Contemporary, depicts the artifact used by for the truce and surrender at Appomattox, Virginia at its true scale, draped over the end of a timber pole.
