Poster for Tongues Untied: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A poster for the experimental video Tongues Untied by Marlon Riggs. The poster features a large black and white photograph of Marlon Riggs (left) and Essex Hemphill (right). Both Riggs and Hemphill are shirtless. Riggs stands in front of Hemphill and Hemphill's right arm reaches to the front of Riggs' chest. There is a wall with a design on it in the background. The lower right of the poster contains a gray text box with red type that reads: [BLACK / MEN / LOVING / BLACK / MEN]. The title and credits are found below the red text in gray and red type and reads: [TONGUES / UNTIED / by MARLON RIGGS / featuring ESSEX HEMPHILL]. White text below the text box reads: [Funded in part by Film Arts Foundation and Western States Regional NEA Fellowship]. On the bottom left of the poster, in white, horizontal type, are additional credits that read: [Poster design Gary Rorick Photo Ron Simmons]. Both men also signed their signatures, in blue ink, to the right of their heads on the front of the poster. The back of the poster is blank white. A piece of paper with black type is taped to the bottom left corner reading [Mr. Jack Vincent/223 Orange St/Oakland CA 94610-4134] in black ink, with [DONATED BY] handwritten in black ink above the typed portion, and [3/2014] in the bottom right of the sticker, handwritten in black ink.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 1989
• Subject of: Marlon Riggs, American, 1957 - 1994
• Subject of: Essex Hemphill, American, 1957 - 1995
• Photograph by: Dr. Ron Simmons, American, 1950 - 2020
• Designed by: Gary Rorick
• Type: posters
• Medium: ink on paper (fiber product)
• Dimensions: H x W: 24 × 18 1/16 in. (61 × 45.9 cm)
• Place used: United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Film
• Topic: Gender
• Topic: Identity
• Topic: LGBTQ
• Topic: Men
• Topic: Sexuality
• Object number: 2014.169.1.2
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Jack Vincent in memory of Marlon Riggs
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: © Signifyin' Works Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.