Sonya Clark's "Afro Abe" series is composed of the elements of a five-dollar bill embellished with black threads, forming an Afro atop President Abraham Lincoln's head. The series lauds President Abraham Lincoln as an early civil rights leader, while revealing connections between money, power, and pride. She began the series in 2007 when then-Senator Barack Obama began his presidential campaign. Over the next five years, she created 42 additional Afro-Abe pieces to honor his place as the 44th President of the United States of America.
Born to Caribbean parents, Sonya Clark grew up in a close-knit family that often shared stories and taught her the value of the handmade and craft. She earned her BA from Amherst College, where she also received an honorary doctorate and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She went on to become a Professor of Art at Amherst College and earned her MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. Clark often works with combs, coins, seed beads, thin threads, and strands of human hair and explores the various functions and connotations assigned to these objects and racial politics. She is best known for artwork that honors notable African American figures and hairdressers and for her creations with the Confederate flag.
Sonya Clark's work has been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Goya Contemporary, Baltimore; Lehman College Art Gallery, Bronx; The African American Museum, Philadelphia; and the Fabric Workshop and Museum in Philadelphia.
