Certain Restrictions Do Apply: Stitching Memory, Friendship and Resistance
This winter, Claire Oliver Gallery in New York opens its 2026 programme with Certain Restrictions Do Apply, a two-person exhibition bringing together new textile works by Carolyn Mazloomi and Sharon Kerry-Harlan. On view until 7 March 2026, the exhibition presents nine newly made pieces that speak to history, friendship and the enduring power of cloth as a carrier of cultural memory.
Carolyn Mazloomi. Certain Restrictions Do Apply, 2024 : Cotton fabric, thread and batting and textile ink; commercial printing, hand stencilling, hand painted and
machine quilted. 75 x 73 in.
Both artists are recognised for expanding the language of quiltmaking beyond its long-held associations with domesticity. Instead, they position textiles as conceptual, political and deeply human forms of expression. Though visually distinct, Mazloomi and Kerry-Harlan share a commitment to storytelling through fibre, addressing race, belonging, ancestry and the legacies of Black American pioneers whose lives have shaped the social fabric of the United States.
Sharon Kerry-Harlan. Fragments of the Past, Threads of Memory, 2025 : found objects, textiles and thread. 26 x 52 in.
Sharon Kerry-Harlan’s work approaches history through material intimacy and accumulation. Known for her rust-dyed, monochromatic surfaces, she integrates found, gifted and inherited fabrics alongside beads, buttons and other embellishments, each sewn by hand. “Memory is layered,” she reflects. “In fabric, I find the ability to embed echoes — of family, of the past, of cultural inheritance. My work is about carrying forward what must not be forgotten, but also making space for reinterpretation.” Her quilts function as living archives, where ancestry, diasporic heritage and the rhythms of modern life coexist within richly textured fields.
Carolyn Mazloomi. Madame C. J. Walker, 2025 : Cotton fabric, cotton batt, poly-cotton thread, India ink; printed, stencilled, hand painting, machine quilted. 76 x 77.5 in.
“Textiles have an inherent humanity,” says Carolyn Mazloomi. “A quilt holds touch, time, labor, and story — it holds lives. The histories of the people I depict are sewn into the fabric itself. Quilts speak on behalf of those whose voices might otherwise go unheard.” A self-taught quilter with more than 55 years of practice, Mazloomi is widely regarded as one of the first artists to use quilting explicitly as a tool for social justice. Her work addresses issues including police reform, voting rights, literacy and educational inequality, while honouring individuals and moments often excluded from dominant historical narratives. As founder of the African American Quilt Guild of Los Angeles and the Women of Color Quilters Network, she has also been instrumental in shaping national discourse around quilting as a respected contemporary art form.
Sharon Kerry-Harlan, The Empire Builder, 2011-2025 : Dye discharge, curated fabrics, quilted and embellished. 36.5 x 156.75 in.
Carolyn Mazloomi, Harriet Tubman, 2025 : Cotton fabric, cotton batt, poly-cotton thread, India ink; stencilled and hand painted, machine quilted. 68.50 x 69 in.
The exhibition also marks the first joint New York presentation of two artists whose friendship spans decades. Through ongoing conversations, critique and mutual support, Mazloomi and Kerry-Harlan have shaped one another’s practices over time. Seen together, their works form a visual dialogue that is both personal and expansive in their affirmation of textiles as vessels of memory, resistance and care, reminding us of the lives, histories and voices held within stitched cloth.
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Further Information:
Certain Restrictions Do Apply is on now until 7 March 2026 at the Claire Oliver Gallery, New York, NY 10030
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Image Credits:
Lead: Sharon Kerry Harlan. GO VOTE!! : Textile collage, vintage textiles, African fabric, rusted fabric, hand-pulled silkscreen, acrylic paint, metal studs, political button; quilted. 11 x 11 in.
All further images as credited in photo captions.