We have to fight voter
suppression, but we have to do
everything in our power to
dissipate in the elections this
fall because we have to put out
the effort to remind people that
if you do not have a seat at the
table, you will literally be on
the menu.
A major retrospective looks at
the remarkable
life and work
of artist
faith Ringgold, who has fought
for change in the art world and
beyond for
60 years.
Jeffrey brown has this profile
for our arts and culture series,
canvas.
In 1967 faith Ringgold painted
"Die", a large work capturing
the violence and chaos of the
era.
Ringgold, 06:38 you can't
necessarily change what's going
on, no. But, I can say what I
think about it. I'm free to do
that. And I will.
Sixteen years later, she
exploded black stereotypes, in a
work called "Who's afraid of
aunt jemima".
>> You turned her into a
powerful woman.
>> Well, she was powerful in the
way she was doing something with
those pancakes and stuff that
nobody else had done.
>> At 91, faith Ringgold is
having a big moment: Six decades
of her art are on view in a
retrospective exhibition at the
'new museum' in New York, titled
"American people":
Paintings sculptures works on
fabric and the 'story quilts' a
mix of writing, painting, and
quilting for which she is best
known.
Across the Hudson at her home in
New Jersey, we had a chance to
visit the artist, on this day
signing prints in her large and
bright studio - surrounded by
the tools of her trade, archives
posters, and artworks.
Of her life's work, she says
this:
>> I wanted to make a
contribution to America.
It's my country.
I thought, 'I have something to
say about the American people.
And what's great about it is I
could say it. Got freedom of
speech.
>> You could say it through your
art.
>> That's right.
>> Her works from the early 60s
portray Americans black and
white
looking at one another
at themselves
at the artist, and at us,
seeming to raise questions of
power, as in one titled, "For
members only"
later, in larger paintings, came
a more head-on confrontation:
"U.S. Postage stamp
commemorating the advent of
black power"
and, a work that might have been
painted in our own time: "The
flag is bleeding".
>> I felt that I needed to
record some of what was
happening at that time.
>> Is that the right word,
'recording' it through art?
>> It felt powerful that I could
express it and I could have my
say.
>> Ringgold grew up and spent
most of her life in Harlem,
encouraged in her art by her
mother Willi posey, a seamstress
and clothing designer.
Years later, she captured a
memory of her early life in "Tar
beach" summer nights on a Harlem
rooftop.
She studied art at city college
and set out to find her place.
>> I thought I had a right to,
and I thought I should and I
could,
(and I did).
>> But there were barriers.
>> Oh, please. Everywhere. Yeah,
lots of barriers.
'Your art is not welcome here.
And you're not welcome here'.
And people have different ways
of saying that, you know. But I
found my way.
>> One way was through activism:
Protests and posters for civil
rights and black empowerment
demands for the art world to
open up to women and artists of
color.
Women, she says, were literally
out of the picture, so she put
them back, including in a
mural-size painting for the
correctional institute for women
at rikers island, which has now
been restored and appears in the
exhibition.
>> Did you feel like you needed
to make some noise?
>> Yeah, you got to be heard
some way.
You gotta have some courage
somewhere, for being a woman and
for being black, too. I just
can't accept rejection on that
level.
>> She challenged art trends by
using 'craft' techniques like
quilting.
And art history by adding women
and African-Americans into the
story as in her 1990s series,
"The French collection",
a family "Dancing in the louvre"
a quilting bee amid van gogh's
sunflowers at arles
a Parisian cafe.
>> Well, I was giving myself the
freedom to take another look at
the possibilities of what life
could be. I didn't have to just
settle for what I was given.
Especially when it was so
unsettling.
>> New museum artistic director
massimiliano gioni is one of the
exhibition's curators.
>> She's opening doors and
windows and making the house of
art much more complex and
hospitable.
The great thing about seeing
this work together, seeing 60
years of this work, is you
understand how many times faith
Ringgold was right, before her
time.
>> The 'story quilts' contain
literal written 'stories' around
their edges and those beginning
with "Tar beach" would lead to a
way for Ringgold to reach new
generations: Through children's
books.
She's now published more than 20
books with beautiful art and
stories of history and
inspiration.
"Tar beach" has the famous,
"Anyone can fly", right?
>> All you gotta do is try. Yes,
indeed - you can do it!
>> In 2020, Ringgold lost her
husband, Burdette, known as
'birdy', after nearly 60 years
together.
And the pandemic has been tough
on this socially active woman.
But she continues to be
surrounded and supported by two
loving daughters: Michele, a
writer and cultural critic,
herself a noted art historian -
and Barbara, a linguist and
educator, both of whom help run
Ringgold's "Anyone can fly"
foundation.
Ringgold herself is now working
on a project about aging, but -
always in charge - she wasn't
ready to show it yet.
She was willing to say how she
felt seeing her life's work on
display.
>> I'm glad I can look at it and
not say, "Oh, I wonder why I
didn't do this and that.' I did.
>> You look at it with pride?
>> I look at it with pride, yes.
Because I have a right as an
American to create the kind of
art I want. So why not use that?
>> Faith Ringgold's "American
people" exhibition is at the new
museum in New York through June
5th and then travels to the de