Alice Beasley is a quilt artist who uses quiltmaking to tell narratives, she tells of the joys and the sorrows that she comes across in her life. This quilt is titled ‘home street home’.
Over the next few weeks I will be posting on quilts with attitude, many of these are fun and contemporary dealing with social issues and metaphors, but there are also lots of political artist quilts coming to my attention. I am not surprised about this, artists are often at the front of the line when it comes to political protest and speaking up about their social beliefs. And women in particular have a long history of protesting against the government through quilts. Yes, political quilts have a long history.
This quilt is by Carolyn L. Mazloomi, and is titled “strange fruit” she says My quilts are visual stories layered with historical, political and social conditions that call attention to the circumstances of people around the world, especially women. My intention is to invite the viewer into contemplation, raise awareness and feel the spirit of the cloth.
As long as quilt making has been around, women have used this traditional craft to tell stories, to capture life’s joys and sorrows, and often part of this means to express their political convictions. Many generations of women weren’t allowed to express their thoughts in print, in public, or in the voting booth, but they could express them through cloth, they used their needle to tell the world what they thought. Just imagine those genteel gatherings of Victorian ladies stitching over a cup of tea, while really they were plotting strategy for the suffrage movement.
Gwendolyn Magee, is another artist whose work is a dramatic narrative telling the story of the African American experience. This work is from her ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing series’. The image of a chained woman being cruelly whipped even though her womb is heavy with child graphically illustrates the dehumanization of slaves.
Today political quilts or quilts with a social conscience are not that common, much of today’s quilting revolves around beautiful fabrics and interesting patterns – however there are many artists who use the quilt medium to express their thoughts on todays big issues.
Marion Coleman creates work that addresses family, history, nature, culture traditions and social themes. These pieces utilize color and figurative imagery to educate, entertain, inspire and stimulate ideas and discussion. this quilt is titled ‘Angry Young Men’ and is a social commentary on violence, criminal justice system, community ambivalence to the loss of a generation of young adults.
You may have noticed that many of these quilts mentioned are by African-American quilters. While I was searching for political and narrative quilts, I kept coming across the African-American story being told in quilt making. I think that because their story/history has been a struggle for survival, they are perhaps more aware of the struggle of others, while many African American quilt artists work deals with their own history, there is also a large proportion who are moved by others stories too, that of the homeless, youth, immigrants and the aged. Looking into the history of African American quilting I found that their quilt making traditions are long and serve as visual records of patterns of migration and settlement and are linked to textile traditions found in West Africa. Quilts are also used to document family history, and relationships and events.
Penny Sisto, Immigrant Series 2007 :: THEY CAME BY SEA, The images, the beings on my work haunt and whisper to me as I make them live. I learn sometimes things that only they can tell, as I sew the edges of their world.
online article resources
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black threads
related:
Be sure to go and see (if you can) Will the Circle Be Unbroken August 11, 2007 – November 25, 2007 at Brattleboro Museum & Art CenterFour Generations of African-American Quiltmakers Improvisational quilts made by four generations of African-American women in one Texas family—Gladys Henry, Laverne Brackens, Sherry Byrd, and Bara Byrd.
Something Pertaining to God: The Patchwork Art of Rosie Lee Tompkins May 20 – October 28, 2007 20 Shelburne Museumquilts and several smaller quilted pieces are exhibited in this first solo museum exhibition for the acclaimed quiltmaker Rosie Lee Tompkins.
