Quilts and Culture

Artist’s Statement

My fiber art reveals my exploration of African American cultural identity, channeling messages from the ancestors. Notions of family, spiritual life, and cultural history are intertwined in patterns, symbols, and sewn lines. Often described as art quilts, my creations act as fiber story maps. Inspired by Lukasa, memory boards from the Luba people of what’s now the Democratic Republic of Congo, these are wooden mnemonic devices, to reinterpret oral traditions and events. My story quilts function as guideposts for both well-known and hidden paths of how we experience this world. Similar to how memory boards reveal layers of knowledge through a special interpreter, my work operates on multiple levels and with many layers of meaning. The abstraction of quilts can lure you in and allow you to get lost in them while creating a sense of nostalgia for past times and places. We have happy associations with fiber; we are wrapped in cloth as we come out of the womb. All art has the capability of healing, and fiber is the medium that we have all experienced.

Using color and transparent cloth, I find links between past, present, and future. As I explore my heritage and the African Diaspora, I liken my path to an archaeological dig. I investigate and carefully unearth what is hidden in order to understand history more fully. There can be an urge at times to cover up the pain of the past and move on. I recall that my mother had reservations when I began creating art that dealt with the difficulties of slavery, racism, and loss of identity. Through conversation, she came to understand that my intention did not stop at addressing pain or shame but went further, to acknowledge the history and understand the origins. My work reminds us of the necessity of retelling stories of our collective past.

Read more from Issue 20.1.