FOIAWEAR — SCULPTED CLAY EAR / Disguise Specialist Screening Tee

FOIAWEAR / ARCHIVE SERIES 055

SCULPTED CLAY EAR — the CIA's Office of Technical Service built its reputation on disguise: identity specialists who "harnessed the creativity and hard work of artists, scientists, and field operators to achieve the goal of invisibility." Getting into that trade was not a matter of paperwork. Applicants were screened on their hands, and this life-size human ear, modelled in clay, is one of the tests. Reproducing a three-dimensional subject convincingly — the helix, the fold of the antihelix, the shadow inside the concha — is the whole job in miniature.

The artwork is a study of that test piece: a single clay ear, lit like a specimen, its tool marks and thumb-smoothed surfaces left visible. It is a stylised tribute, not a photograph of the museum's artifact.

The QR code on the front opens the source: https://www.cia.gov/legacy/museum/artifact/sculpted-clay-ear/ — the CIA Museum's own artifact page, where the screening process and the Office of Technical Service's work are described.

Garment: Comfort Colors 1717, 6.1 oz garment-dyed cotton, S–4XL. Front print only; plain back. Artwork approximately 10 × 10 in, QR approximately 1.8 × 1.8 in.

Colours: this print is offered on the five dark garment colours — Black, Graphite, Espresso, Navy and Pepper. The artwork is drawn in pale inks for dark cloth, so there is no light-garment version of this design.

Care: machine wash cold, inside out, tumble dry low. Do not iron the print directly.

FOIAWEAR is an independent brand and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Central Intelligence Agency or the United States government.