Give Thanks

2011, site-specific installation of 39 pennant flags: satin ribbon, linen, gratitude statements, installed dimensions site-variable, hoist ribbon ~73.5 ft long. Installation view (composited), Jenkins Johnson Gallery, New York

installation view, Untitled Gallery / Project Space Leeds, Leeds, UK. Photo: Katie Rutherford

detail of text sewn from pennant ribbon, spelling out 'give thanks' in cream ribbon in cursive

a close-up of a pennant flag sewn of aqua linen with the text 'balance' spelled out in ribbon.

close-up of a pennant flag sewn from yellow seersucker fabric with the text 'i get to do what i want' sewn on in sunflower yellow ribbon

a close-up of a pennant flag sewn of aqua linen with the text 'today' spelled out in ribbon

close-up of a pennant flag sewn from yellow seersucker fabric with the text 'mom still in good spirits' sewn on in sunflower yellow ribbon

a close-up of a pennant flag sewn of aqua linen with the text 'being where i should be' spelled out in ribbon

close-up of a pennant flag sewn from yellow seersucker fabric with the text 'loved, warts and all' sewn on in sunflower yellow ribbon

Thirty-nine pennants bear responses to the question, “What are you grateful for?”

Responses were generated from a public call, which explained that the exercise of listing gratitude elicitors has been found to increase subjective well-being. A few responses from the artist are included; most responses are from the members of the public in the US and UK.

After editing the texts for concision, the artist handcrafted an installation of 39 pennant flags. Each linen flag bears one response in satin ribbon. These pennants form a collective gratitude journal.

The flags are strung together with a ribbon whose tail spells “Give thanks.” This instruction was also enacted in a participatory activity at Project Space Leeds.

Caption: Christine Wong Yap, Give Thanks, 2011, site-specific installation of 39 pennant flags: satin ribbon, linen, gratitude statements, dimensions site-variable

Give Thanks was on view in Voices of Home at Jenkins Johnson Gallery in New York in February 2012. It was exhibited in Enter a Small Room Arranged for this Purpose: Part Three, Untitled Gallery’s contribution to Peering Sideways at PSL [Project Space Leeds] in Leeds, UK in 2011.

The artist expresses her gratitude to contributors Victoria, Mike Chavez-Dawson, Rebecca Chesney, Christian L. Frock, Regine M. Gilbert, Whitney Lynn, Liz Mariani, Susan O'Malley, Nyeema Morgan, Dorothy Santos, Joseph Sobel, Michele Théberge, and Rachelle Tolwin.