Faith Ringgold

As a painter, quilt-maker, activist and author Faith Ringgold has a passion for storytelling and voicing feminist and anti-racist politics.

In 1992 she moved to Jones Road in Englewood, New Jersey and encountered animosity from the predominantly white neighbourhood who prevented her from building an art studio. Her freedom to create art was challenged, reminding her how the African-American journey to freedom was not over. She responded with a series of painted story quilts and prints based on Jones Road, which narrate the journey of runaway slaves fleeing the north via the Underground Railroad.

Inside Coming to Jones Road: Under a Blood Red Sky #8 two silhouetted figures ‘walk to freedom.’ Vibrant red sky reflects the anguish and bloodshed African-Americans have endured. Ringgold explains, “I have tried to couple the beauty of the place and the harsh realities of its racist history to create a freedom series that turns all the ugliness of spirit, past and present, into something livable”.