Art + Artists

William Evans approaches his practice as both an artist and cultural worker, exploring how identity, place, and power intersect. Using everyday materials like welcome mats, flags, and heirloom neckties, he reframes the familiar as sites of cultural tension and reflection. Through humor, craft, and care, his work questions belonging, resistance, and the systems that shape American life.

William Evans (b. 2000) is an interdisciplinary artist and MFA candidate in the Sculpture Area at The Ohio State University with an expected graduation of August 2025. He earned a BFA in Art, with an emphasis in sculpture, and an AB (Bachelor of Arts) in Women’s Studies from the University of Georgia. Originally from the South, Evans’ practice explores the intersections of Blackness, queerness, and American identity through textiles, sculpture, and visual communication. Using a range of techniques and methods from domestic crafting to interventions with found objects, his work blends satire and social critique to challenge cultural narratives of race, belonging, and resistance. Evans is committed to using his practice as a platform for dialogue, as he partners with communities to address issues of justice, identity, and representation.

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I approach my practice as both an artist and cultural worker, exploring the layered relationships between identity, place, and power. Grounded in my experience as a Black queer Southerner, I use familiar objects—welcome mats, American flags, heirloom neckties—to reframe the everyday as sites of cultural tension and historical weight. Through sewing, fabricating, and assembling, I transform these materials into works that question the boundaries between belonging and exclusion, power and resistance, humor and harm.

Satire and wit are central to my process, allowing me to expose contradictions in American cultural narratives while holding space for deeper reflection. My work does not offer solutions—it asks questions. It invites audiences to sit with discomfort, to examine how oppression is stitched into everyday life, and to imagine new possibilities. After visiting Annin Flagmakers—the nation’s oldest flag manufacturer—and engaging with workers, my understanding deepened around the construction of national symbols through repetitive labor and tradition. At its core, my practice is centered around creative activism, forming a visual language built to challenge systems, celebrate resilience, and spark cultural connection across divides.