James Drake (born 1946) is an American interdisciplinary and visual artist known for his works across various mediums such as drawing, video, sculpture, photography, printmaking, and installations.

[1] His drawings, video, sculpture, photography, printmaking and installations, investigate the human condition, emotions, and systems of communication, oftentimes through allegory to underscore the cyclical nature of history.

[2] During his time living in El Paso, Texas, issues related to the USA/Mexico border became a central theme in his body of work and the broader universal context he explores.

[4] Tongue-Cut Sparrows was inspired by a system of sign language Drake observed women standing outside a jail in El Paso, Texas, used to communicate with prisoners on the inside.

The work incorporates depictions of animals, portraits of family, friends, and diverse historical and contemporary influences such as Diego Rivera, Dante, Bruce Nauman, Murray Gell-Mann, La Malinche, Delacroix, Homer, Michelangelo, Herman Melville, and Goya.

The monumental scale of the installed work "maps a space of humanity toggling between the languages of physics and poetry, illustrated by images of current events and cultural history.

[15] In 1992 Drake was commissioned by the city of Birmingham, Alabama, to create 3 public art monuments for the Freedom Walk in Kelly Ingram Park,[16] where many civil rights demonstrations occurred in 1963, igniting racial unrest when police responded to a non-violent protest with brutality and arrests.