T-shirt with an illustration of Eric Garner: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

A size large, white t-shirt designed by Ethical Culture Fieldston School student Ocean Gao, who wore this shirt during a December 13, 2014 protest march organized by Millions March NYC in New York City. The cotton t-shirt has printed, stylized, red and black text on the front chest that reads, [THE WORLD IS / NOT OK] below a black-and-white graphic illustration of a teenage Eric Garner. Garner is depicted in bust post facing the viewer, wearing a suit with a bowtie. His nose and mouth are covered with two small illustrations of pieces of tape with black text that read [I CAN’T] above [BREATHE]. Over the right shoulder of the illustration is the artist’s printed signature and date in black ink that reads [Ocean, G. 2014]. A fabric tag for Gildan is sewn at the interior center back collar. The back of the t-shirt is blank.

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: 2014
• Manufactured by: Gildan Activewear Inc., Canadian, founded 1984
• Designed by: Ocean Gao, American, born 1998
• Subject of: Eric Garner, 1970 - 2014
• Subject of: Ethical Culture Fieldston School, American, founded 1878
• Subject of: Millions March NYC, American, founded 2014
• Type: T-shirts
• Medium: ink on cotton
• Dimensions: H x W x D (flat): 30 1/8 × 34 13/16 × 1/8 in. (76.5 × 88.5 × 0.3 cm)
• Place made: Bronx, New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Place used: New York City, New York, United States, North and Central America
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Activism
• Topic: Art
• Topic: Clothing and dress
• Topic: Justice
• Topic: Race relations
• Topic: Resistance
• Topic: Social reform
• Object number: 2015.217.4
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Mariama Richards
• 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: Restrictions likely apply. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.