SAN FRANCISCO, CA.- Sculptor Kristine Mays’ work has entered the permanent collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture (NMAAHC), marking a significant institutional recognition of her powerful explorations of history, spirituality, and contemporary political life. The acquisition coincides with Kristine MAYS: State of the Union, now on view at Modernism, which presents a focused selection of twelve politically charged sculptures addressing the current social and ideological climate in the United States.

The Smithsonian has acquired Mays’ Hush Harbor, a work described by Dr. Teddy Reeves, Curator of Religion at NMAAHC, as “profoundly important” for making visible “the sacred invisible—those clandestine spaces where enslaved people forged a revolutionary religious synthesis that would become the foundation of Black spiritual life in America.” By reconstituting wire — a material associated with construction and containment — Mays transforms industrial matter into an instrument of beauty and liberation. The sculpture honors the religiously plural nature of these hidden gatherings, where Islam, Yoruba traditions, and Christianity dynamically blended into what is now recognized as Black religion. Reeves further notes that the work illuminates the continuing legacy of hush harbors in contemporary digital spaces, where Black women remain central sustainers and transmitters of faith, describing an “unbroken thread of Black women’s spiritual leadership” from secret worship circles of the antebellum South to virtual communities today.

At Modernism, State of the Union expands Mays’ inquiry into the political present. Reflecting on the concept of DEI (Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion) and its dismantlement in 2025, Mays examines race, war, power, intimidation, nationalism, and identity through a body of work she describes as emerging from a sense of betrayal surrounding the “American Dream.” Witnessing the widening gap between national ideals and lived realities compelled her to create sculptures that are vulnerable, raw, and confrontational.

Mays employs a distinctive, labor-intensive process, bending and hooking rebar tie wire together with pliers, one piece at a time, without molds or models. Each sculpture requires at least sixty hours of handwork to form a human body or garment. The resulting figures are gestural and animated, conveying a palpable emotional presence. “I am breathing life into wire,” Mays says. “With each work, I create a form that reveals the essence of a person and that speaks to humanity as a whole.” Quotations often accompany the sculptures, providing further conceptual context.

Art historical references resonate throughout the exhibition. Like Robert Rauschenberg’s use of the American flag to interrogate national identity, Mays’ This Is America reimagines the flag in wire, with beads hanging from its frayed edges to suggest blood and tears. In Birthing Greatness, she invokes the symbolic lineage of the Statue of Liberty as an optimistic vision of future change-makers. Meanwhile, works such as Human Complacency echo the universality of Keith Haring’s faceless figures, implicating all viewers in the nation’s unfolding crises.

A San Francisco native, Mays has exhibited nationally since 1993. Her work is held in the collections of the Smithsonian Institution NMAAHC, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Art, and the Crocker Art Museum. She was the Grand Finale Winner of the 5th Annual Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series National Competition in 2015 and has long been active in the Bay Area arts community, including over two decades of participation in San Francisco Open Studios. Through collaborations with organizations such as Visual Aid and the San Francisco Alliance Health Project, she has also helped raise significant funds for AIDS research.

Together, the Smithsonian acquisition and State of the Union position Mays’ practice at the intersection of historical memory, spiritual continuity, and urgent civic reflection — a sculptural language that, in the spirit of Nina Simone’s assertion that an artist’s duty is “to reflect the times,” confronts the present while holding space for transformation.