How Faith Ringgold Quilts Transformed Black American Art and Culture
Faith Ringgold was a fearless artist who was not afraid to paint the racial and gender inequality that Black people and Women faced in America. Faith Ringgold is known for her colourful, cubistic art style that documents important historical and political events in America. She was not just an activist through her paintings, as she participated in protests and led organisations to promote equal rights for oppressed groups. Ringgold’s painting leaves an impactful lingering as it portrays the gruesome reality of America.
Who is Faith Ringgold
Faith Ringgold was born in Harlem in 1930 to Andrew Louis Jones and Willi Posey Jones, a fashion designer. Throughout her childhood, Ringgold was forced to stay indoors due to her severe asthma. To soothe her boredom, Ringgold started drawing, which was encouraged by her mother. Ringgold’s mother also introduced her to sewing and working with fabric, which was a skill that came in handy when she first started quiltmaking in the 1980s. She carried her love for making art into choosing her college degree; however, she was rejected from the art program at the City College of New York (CCNY) due to women not being allowed to major in art. She ended up majoring in arts education at CCNY in 1948 and then returned to College to complete a master’s in Fine Arts in 1959. Ringgold did not immediately start her art career after finishing college, as she was a mother to two daughters, but she started in the mid-1960s, since her creativity was sparked by the Civil Rights Movement that was happening at that time.
Significant Artwork
Faith Ringgold found her artistic voice during the 1960s. She began creating art that focused on depicting sexism, racism and the struggle for equal rights of African Americans. The American People series began Ringgold’s professional art career; the series concentrates on race relations in the USA. The most well-known painting out of the series is The American People #20 Die. The painting shows both Black and White men, women and children splattered in blood, some of whom are running, dying and fighting. It illustrates the race riots that occurred during the 1960s, implying that no one is safe if the extreme racism against African Americans continues.
Shift to Quiltmaking
Most of Faith Ringgold’s renowned artworks are her story quilts, as quiltmaking was seen as a unique art form. Ringgold began quilting as a way to connect with her African American heritage, since quiltmaking has roots in slave culture. Her quilts told the story of African American culture and identity. Woman on a Bridge #1 of 5: Tar Beach is Ringgold’s most notable work. It tells the story of a young Black girl who dreams of flying from her Harlem rooftop, representing freedom. The young girl flying is a metaphor for her wishing to escape from racial and gender barriers. Tar Beach tells a sweet but devastating story as the young girl is already aware of the constraints she faces; however, it’s also hopeful as she dreams of breaking free. Years later, Ringgold adapted Tar Beach into a children’s book, capturing the same essence as the painting.
Inclusivity in museums
Faith Ringgold’s activism goes beyond painting as she fought for inclusivity in art spaces. Being a Black woman, it was hard for Ringgold to break into the art world since it was predominantly white and male at the time. However, that didn’t stop her as she said “After I decided to be an artist, the first thing that I had to believe was that I, a black woman, could penetrate the art scene, and that, further, I could do so without sacrificing one iota of my blackness or my femaleness or my humanity”. Ringgold also attempted to help other women and artists of colour to break into the art scene. Whilst working on the American people series, Ringgolf and Tom Lloyd, an American sculptor, led a Black caucus with the Art Workers’ Coalition to pressure New York museums to exhibit more women and artists of colour. Another instance of Ringgold’s activism is the protest she led against the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1970, demanding that fifty per cent of artists exhibited in the Whitney Biennial should be women and half of those women should be black. Although this protest did lead to immediate change, it still led for Whitney Museum of American Art to be more inclusive in their next event, as two Black woman artists’ work was shown in the 1972 sculpture biennial.
Faith Ringgold died on April 13th 2024. She left an impactful print in the Art world since she popularised quiltmaking in the arts, created many narrative paintings to communicate the struggles African Americans face, and tried her best to help other Black Women artists to make their mark in mainstream art.