Bath is set to welcome a striking celebration of quiltmaking artistry with a new and seminal exhibition in the UK, that tells the story of an isolated African American community in Alabama. Words by Dara Foley. Image above: Detail of a quilt by Mary Lee Bendolph.
This UK-exclusive exhibition showcases the extraordinary work of women from the remote river island community of Boykin, a horseshoe-shaped turn on the Alabama River – also known as Gee’s Bend and home to a 200-year tradition of quiltmaking that holds profound artistic, historic and political significance.
Long overlooked by the mainstream art world, these quilts are now celebrated globally and occupy a vital place [and time] in the story of American art. With bold colours, unexpected patterns and uninhibited improvisation, the quilts are far more than decorative objects. Born out of necessity in a racially segregated and economically marginalised region in the Deep South of the USA, they speak of resilience, self-sufficiency and lived experience.
To alleviate the rural poverty of mid-20th century America and following federal intervention, residents of Gee’s Bend benefitted from low-interest goverment loans and became landowners of the same land once worked and farmed by their enslaved forebears – a continuity that helped sustain both community and cultural traditions, including quiltmaking.
That resilience was tested in the early 60s during the civil rights era, when white officials in nearby county seat of Camden cut the community’s ferry service in response to growing Black political activism, deliberately isolating Gee’s Bend and restricting access to basic services and the right to vote. Despite this, the community remained politically active. In 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. brought his civil rights campaign to Gee’s Bend, and many local quiltmakers marched alongside him, risking violence and hatred in the fight for equality.
The following year, quiltmakers helped establish the Freedom Quilting Bee, a pioneering Black women’s cooperative that brought economic independence and national recognition, supplying major retailers such as Bloomingdale’s and Sears, sparking a renewed interest in American patchwork. During this time, wider attention focussed on the Gee’s Bend quiltmakers, whose work came to embody Black empowerment, cultural pride and creative resistance.
The exhibition focuses on intergenerational creativity, highlighting skills and traditions passed down from mothers to daughters, and between sisters. Through the quilts, visitors to the exhibition can encounter the lives and distinctive voices of Mary Lee Bendolph, Essie Bendolph Pettway, Rita Mae Pettway, Louisiana P. Bendolph, Qunnie Pettway, Loretta Pettway Bennett and Sally Mae Pettway Mixon as they express their stories and artistry. While each maker’s style is individual, together the quilts form a visual language defined by improvisation, bold geometry and abstraction – qualities often compared to modernist movements such as abstract expressionism.
Co-organised by the Irish Museum of Modern Art/ IMMA, Dublin, with Raina Lampkins-Fielder, chief curator for the non-profit, Souls Grown Deep based in the USA, Kith & Kin: The Quilts of Gee’s Bend draws on decades of scholarship and advocacy for Black artists from the American South.
Lampkins-Fielder explains: “Woven in every stitch is a story of familial bonds that have sustained Gee’s Bend’s rich quiltmaking tradition into the present day, transcending centuries of sociopolitical upheaval and oppression. The quilts on display in Kith and Kin embody the strength and deep interconnectedness of this community, while underscoring the importance of the matrilineal transmission of knowledge and its influence on individual artistry. ”
Reverberating with history, the quilts are vehicles for storytelling and autobiography, as well as creative responses to tragedy and celebrations of joy. Through them, visitors gain insight into a community’s civil rights activism, and a lasting influence on today’s contemporary artists.
Founded in 2010, Souls Grown Deep takes its name from a line in Langston Hughes’s defining 1921 poem, The Negro Speaks of Rivers – “My soul has grown deep like the rivers” – and the foundation works to preserve, celebrate and amplify these artistic legacies while fostering racial and social justice in the communities that produced them.
For visitors, the quilts are not only visually striking but deeply evocative. Their patterns and colours speak of family, endurance and belonging, while inviting reflection on the broader social histories they emerge from. As such, Kith & Kin is as much about heritage and identity as it is about craft.
The American Museum & Gardens provides the perfect setting for this powerful and moving exhibition and a rare opportunity to encounter these remarkable works.
Kith & Kin: The Quilts of Gee’s Bend promises to be one of the highlights of this year’s Bath’s cultural calendar.
Exhibition runs from 14 February – 21 June. American Museum and Gardens. Visit: americanmuseum.org for more details.