Dread Scott is an interdisciplinary artist who for three decades has made work that encourages viewers to re-examine cohering ideals of American society. His interdisciplinary practice employs symbolic and visual forms to instigate, rile, and provoke social transformation. He works in a range of media including performance, photography, installation, screen-printing and video. In 1989, the US Senate outlawed his artwork and President Bush declared it "disgraceful" because of its transgressive use of the American flag. Dread became part of a landmark Supreme Court case when he and others burned flags on the steps of the Capitol. He has presented a TED talk on this subject. A skilled public speaker, Scott often unflinchingly calls out tense political issues rather than aesthetic ones. He uses the name Dread Scott firstly to call up the presence of history, for Dread Scott was a slave, sued for his freedom, and his case was a landmark Supreme Court decision. Secondly, Scott uses the name to obfuscate his identity, creating a protective barrier between his personal life and artistic persona.