The Gathering: A Place For Narrative Change: The Stories That Fabric Tells : Installation

“I firmly believe that creating art and Folk Art—which I call the people’s art by ordinary people—has the capacity to affect the spirit. [I] really feel it is spirit driven.”
—Carolyn Mazloomi, Quilting Community Advocate

Black people have used the fibers of fabric as a tool to tell and weave stories together for centuries. They use this tool to help people to find one another, to learn about the culture, and literally find their own pathway to liberation. This program is meant to celebrate this practice. Utilizing the backdrop of the beautiful pieces housed in The African Room at the John F. Kennedy Center, we invite the community to come and support the making of a new commissioned quilt by award winning artist Ife Felix. We will ask folx that come to respond on swatches of fabric that will be added to the finished work and help evoke the spirit and intention of the week. Ms. Felix will then take all of the new work to create a piece charting the narrative change that this week of programming is awakening. This process is a creative response to celebrate legacy, community, and our own liberation.