The Skin Quilt Project

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About The Skin Quilt Project:

The Skin Quilt Project is a documentary that explores colorism in the African-American community. The film addresses this complex issue through the stories of African-American quilters, and the tradition of an artform that celebrates its culture. The quilters speak of the influence of the African-American quilting tradition as a tool for encouraging an appreciation in the African-American cultural heritage.

Colorism has been a long disputed issue within the African-American community, however, filmmaker Lauren Cross speculates that African-American quilters are much more grounded in their African roots. As Quilt historian Carolyn Mazloomi explains, African-American quilters "are joined by the thread of a needle” in which the quilting medium leaves no room for “color issues.”

As many African-American quilters come from families who have passed down quilting techniques to their children and grandchildren, today’s quilters represent African-American men and women who have become concerned with telling the story of their cultural heritage. In The Skin Quilt Project, the quilters tell the story of skin color politics in African-American culture, yet realizing the power of quilting to empower self-confidence in their community.

About the Artist:

Lauren Cross is a writer, activist, and interdisciplinary artist working in mixed media, photography, media arts, and installation art. Her current research interests include the issues of colorism and the “color complex” within the African American community, and her current work addresses ideals of beauty, race, and skin complexion in media imagery. She is also the founder and editor of CVAAD Projects( www.cvaad.com), an online blog and resource for contemporary visual art of the African diaspora. She received her BA in Art, Design, and Media from Richmond, The American International University in London, England, and MFA in Visual Arts from the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University, Cambridge, MA.

For more information,
please contact us at:
info@skinquiltproject.com

Quilting and Participant Links:
www.artbysshine.com
www.wendellgeorgebrown.net
http://blackthreads.blogspot.com
www.bluetrianglequiltguild.com
www.africanamericanartquilt.com
http://auburn.edu/academic/other
/geesbend/home.html
www.carolynlmazloomi.com/
http://richerichardsonartquilts.blogspot.com/
www.myspace.com/darianurbangriot
www.myspace.com/mahoganylbrowne
September 28
Image Caption: Brown, Wendell George, They Thankful Poor: Chicken Potatoes and String Beans. 5.5 ft x 5.5ft. Skin Quilt Project Participant, artist Wendell George Brown, is widely exhibited African American artist and art professor at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. We are so excited to have his participation in the project as his work directly engages us in the use of skin color politics, yet his work “attempts to look at the politics of Black Skin as a tool of empowerment-not a tool to divide.” For him colorism stems from a western concept  that was impemented within the African American community during slavery to “turn house slaves again field slaves.” His quilts place the context of  ”black power”  and strength into black skin. In November 2009, we’ll be interviewing Mr. Brown along with a group of African American quilters from Charleston, South Carolina.

Image Caption: Brown, Wendell George, They Thankful Poor: Chicken Potatoes and String Beans. 5.5 ft x 5.5ft.

Skin Quilt Project Participant, artist Wendell George Brown, is widely exhibited African American artist and art professor at Benedict College in Columbia, South Carolina. We are so excited to have his participation in the project as his work directly engages us in the use of skin color politics, yet his work “attempts to look at the politics of Black Skin as a tool of empowerment-not a tool to divide.” For him colorism stems from a western concept  that was impemented within the African American community during slavery to “turn house slaves again field slaves.” His quilts place the context of  ”black power”  and strength into black skin.

In November 2009, we’ll be interviewing Mr. Brown along with a group of African American quilters from Charleston, South Carolina.

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