Through Fabric & Frame: Faith Ringgold, Lorraine O’Grady, and the Black Feminist Gaze

Through Fabric & Frame is the second installment in our Women’s History Month series, Legacy is a Living Force. Join us Saturday, March 22nd, between 11 am and 6 pm for a daylong study of Black feminist thought, engaging the works of Faith Ringgold and Lorraine O’Grady. 

Through storytelling, quilting, photography, and collective study, we hope to learn how to incorporate their legacies into our own creative practices.

The Day’s Offerings Include:

11 AM – 12 PM 

Storytime: Tar Beach – A reading of Faith Ringgold’s beloved children’s book, inviting reflections on dreams, memory, and freedom. Families are welcome, and art-making inspired by the book will follow the reading.

1 – 3 PM 

Quiltmaking Workshop – Led by sisters Donnette and Kimberly Williams and inspired by Ringgold’s storytelling quilts, we will create patterned pillowcases while exploring quilting traditions and their symbolic meanings.

4 – 5:30 PM

Teach-In – We will close the day with a communal reading and discussion of Lorraine O’Grady’s seminal text Olympia’s Maid, reflecting on the ongoing relevance of the Black feminist gaze.

ONGOING 

11 AM – 6 PM

Photography Activation –Photographer Laila Annmarie Stevens will lead a drop-in photo session reactivating Lorraine O’Grady’s iconic Art Is… series. To extend this communal art-making practice, disposable cameras will be provided for guests to document their own perspectives on the Weeksville grounds. Timed sign-ups for portraits with Laila are required—reserve your slot here.

RSVP & Sign-Up Required: Advanced registration is required for the Photography Portrait Sessions with Laila Ann Marie Stevens. RSVP HERE.

FACILITATOR BIOS

About Laila Annmarie Stevens

Laila Annmarie Stevens (b. 2001) is a Black Queer Photographer and Visual Artist born and raised in South Jamaica Queens, NY based in Brooklyn, NY. She received her BFA in Photography and Related Media at The Fashion Institute of Technology. She is redefining traditional family structures through contemporary community kinship, particularly amongst queer youth and the sisterhood of marginalized women and girls. Through her early work with local youth organizations throughout the five boroughs, she’s incorporated image-making to envision a world of inclusion and power. 

About Donnette and Kimberly Williams

Donnette A. Williams has lived a life in service to her community through her practice of the arts, which started at the age of four. As a holistic and inclusive occupational therapy professional, she has been able to combine both passions to curate diasporic galleries and cultural forums for the whole person via platforms of dance, culinary demonstrations, book clubs, and more. She has also served for nearly twenty years in her church’s Black History Ministry, of which she is currently the Co-Director.

Kimberly Denise Williams believes that every community deserves the information and resources needed to make the best decisions, and this has been a guiding mission in both her professional and vocational activities. A native Brooklynite, she has worked to amplify her community and has been featured in national publications like Vibe and local Brooklyn outlets like Voices of Lefferts, where she currently volunteers on the oral history project. Kimberly also serves on the advisory board of Little Caribbean. She can be found chasing whimsy, grace, and justice when she is not running around Prospect Park.

This event is two of three in our month-long dedication to the luminaries who transitioned this past year, including Faith Ringgold, Lorraine O’Grady, and Judith Jamison. In the face of our present reality, we understand that the work they have left behind continues to nourish our imaginations and shape our collective consciousness. Their transitions remind us that legacy is a living force. We hope you join us this month in communion.