Wilmer Wilson IV

Wilmer Wilson IV combines everyday objects in surprising ways to introduce us to forgotten stories and meanings from history. He expresses himself through various art forms, including sculpture, photography and performance. His work has been exhibited widely since 2011, most recently at the Barnes Foundation, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the American University Museum, the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. The In Flanders Fields Museum residency is his first solo exhibition. He lives and works in Philadelphia, PA.

To mark the 100th anniversary of the United States' involvement in the First World War, In Flanders Fields Museum is proud to present American artist Wilmer Wilson IV as its 2017 Artist-in-Residence.

Fire Bill's Ghost Kit is the result of Wilson's research into the consequences of American involvement in the Great War.

It centres on an unknown figure called Fire Bill, who sent an angry letter to a Mississippi sheriff in 1919. In it, he threatened to "burn down the whole state" and "poison every horse, mule and cow" if there was no end to the constant lynching of blacks. In the context of the museum, the letter is a reference to at least nineteen black First World War veterans who were lynched on their return to the United States.

At the heart of the project is the monumental sculpture Measures Not Men, made from 3,000kg of salt-lick bricks, into which Fire Bill's letter has been carved in monumental letters.

The resulting monolith not only serves as a memorial, but also embodies part of a process of mourning, as do the many memorials and cemeteries that dot the region.

3,000 kg of salt lickstones

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