Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA)Yerba Buena Gardens, SoMa

Dread Scott: The Body Politic

Now showing25 September 2026 – 31 January 2027$10

Work interrogating American patriotism, with two new commissions: a durational performance of an armed guard at a US flag and a monumental canvas of community-made body prints.

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On now All of October 2026

A U.S. flag hangs from a proper pole, and in front of it a veteran in combat fatigues holds a rifle so that nobody gets near. That is Defending the Flag, a new durational performance, and it answers Scott's 1989 work that invited visitors to walk across a flag.

The show fills Gallery 1. The ground-level wall is taken by Life/Death/America, a wall-sized canvas in powdered graphite made with nearly 20 models who pressed their bodies onto special paper. Mission Local compared the result to "crime-scene chalk outlines after a mass-casualty event". Nearby are earlier body prints, including Hands Up, Mug Shot and Fight the Power, plus the Obliterated Power silkscreens of the Pentagon, Supreme Court and Capitol with their subjects scribbled out.

Charles Lewis III wrote that Scott's work is "no less incendiary" after 37 years. The guard performs Wednesdays 4 to 8pm and Saturdays 1 to 5pm. Galleries stay open until 8pm on Wednesdays, and youth and military visitors are free.

Editor's pick

Nearly 20 models pressed their bodies onto paper for Life/Death/America, a wall-sized graphite canvas Mission Local compared to "crime-scene chalk outlines after a mass-casualty event". On some days, a veteran in fatigues guards a flag with a rifle.

Look for

Defending the Flag
A veteran in combat fatigues stands guard with a rifle in front of a U.S. flag on a pole, performing Wednesdays 4 to 8pm and Saturdays 1 to 5pm.
Life/Death/America
A wall-sized powdered graphite canvas of ghostly body impressions, made by nearly 20 models lying on special paper.
Fight the Power
Raised open palms, as in the earlier Hands Up, are turned into closed fists in this ink-on-canvas body print.
Obliterated Power
Three silkscreens of the Pentagon, the Supreme Court and the Capitol, each with its subject scribbled out in black marker.
The Fire Next Time
A self-portrait with Scott's dreadlocks on a skull, laid over a faint burning American flag.