Today we remember artist Faith Ringgold. Her mother, fashion designer Madame Willi Posey, taught her how to sew at a young age which led to her enduring interest in hand-crafted fabric art.
In the 1970s, Ringgold began creating innovative story quilts that drew inspiration from Tibetan tankas, African piece work, and African American quilts. Her textiles challenged traditional artistic hierarchies favoring painting and sculpture.
The quilt featured below is a self-portrait based on the memories of her childhood in Harlem. An activist for racial and gender equality, Ringgold used the bridge, which she could see from her Harlem rooftop, to symbolize opportunity. For her, flying, a metaphor for overcoming challenges, “is about achieving a seemingly impossible goal with no more guarantee of success than an avowed commitment to do it.”
Ringgold explains further in her children's book Tar Beach (1991), “Anyone can fly. All you have to do is have somewhere to go that you can’t get to any other way.”
Faith Ringgold Self-Portrait / 1998, Hand-painted etching & pochoir borders on linen with quilted cotton border and nylon backing / National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution / © Faith Ringold / Artists Rights Society (ARS)
