Announcement card for Merit Badge, Craryville, New York, July 23–September 3, 2005
Aleksandra Mir
American and Swedish, born Poland 1967
2005
An invitation card for Aleksandra Mir’s 2005 Merit Badge project, printed to look like a sheet of embroidered scout-style merit badges that propose playful skills and achievements.
A tidy grid of twenty-four brightly colored circular ‘badges’ set against an olive-green, fabric-like ground draws the eye to tiny embroidered-looking icons—smiley faces, rockets, atoms, animals—each accompanied by a small printed name so the viewer hops from one miniature story to the next.
By borrowing the visual language of scouting and souvenir badges, the piece mixes craft, humor, and institutional critique to question how societies define and display merit and achievement.
Medium
Invitation card
Dimensions
sheet: 10 x 8" (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Acquired through the generosity of Richard Gerrig and Timothy Peterson
Accession
125.2012.99
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
