My work is made from hand-stitched and machine-stitched, uncut, uncirculated sheets of $1 bills on which the portrait of George Washington is printed. The front of the jacket will feature his face, while the back will reflect the illustrations featured on the back of a $1 bill.

George Washington, one of the Founding Fathers and the first President of the United States is seen as the Father of the country, a symbol of freedom and hope and democracy. His portrait is on the front, in which he wears a traditionally British wool jacket. On the reverse, the bill spells out “In God We Trust,” a motto that is now legally mandatory to print on American currency. Interestingly, the US dollar was created several decades following Washington’s death, and paper notes didn’t even begin circulating until 1861 in order to help finance the impending Civil War.

Washington serves as one of the time-honoured heroes of capitalist democracy. Not only did he play a major role in founding one, his face has been on that country’s currency since it started printing money. His portrait, with the biblical quote on the other side, has always served as a symbol for a consumerist society.