QUESTLOVE AND QUILTS: TELLING STORIES; HONOURING TRADITION
The musician Questlove knows musical stories: he's been described by Jazmine Hughes in the New York Times Magazine as a 'walking, talking encyclopedia of late 20th-century musical history'. He creates stories, too, through music, memoir and his recent Academy Award–winning documentary Summer of Soul.
When he accepted his Oscar in March, Questlove also told a story through his clothing: he wore a custom jacket created for him by quilters of Gee's Bend in collaboration with Greg Lauren for Mosaic. And for the Met Gala: The Gilded Age in early May, he wore custom tails with quilted panels, also by Gee's Bend x Greg Lauren. There Questlove said in a red carpet interview that he 'wanted to highlight Black women who have sacrificed for the country'.
Image: Addie Peal Nicholson, 'Housetop'-Nine-Block 'Half-Log Cabin' Variation, 1974. Collection of Minneapolis Institute of Art. Museum purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation.
The women Questlove honours are a collective of Black artists from Gee's Bend, Alabama, who stitch quilts characterised by intricate patchwork, bright, bold colour and motion. As the Soul Grown Deep website states, these quilters are the descendants of enslaved people, and they passed down their techniques from generation to generation. Seven quilters partnered with Lauren to create Questlove's tails, and they sewed their names into the lining, elevating the garment beyond clothing to art, and, indeed, history.
Some months before Questlove wore his quilted jacket and his quilted tails, he was transformed into a quilt by artist Bisa Butler for the NYT Magazine profile noted above. Butler, who is known for her colourful, multimedia quilt portraits of African Americans, used African Dutch wax cloth, lace, silk, velvet and beads—both seed and bugle—to create this textured quilt-and-appliqué portrait of the musician. Butler draws on a variety of approaches for her quilts: she studied painting at Howard University and is, according to notes from the Art Institute of Chicago's exhibition of her work, inspired by Gordon Parks' photos, Romare Bearden's collages, and Faith Ringgold's story quilts.
Image: Gee's Bend x Greg Lauren, Custom Tails, from Greg Lauren Facebook, 2022.
Storytellers all, Questlove, the quilters of Gee's Bend x Greg Lauren and Bisa Butler use fabric to honour the past and craft a new narrative in the present.
When he accepted his Oscar in March, Questlove also told a story through his clothing: he wore a custom jacket created for him by quilters of Gee's Bend in collaboration with Greg Lauren for Mosaic. And for the Met Gala: The Gilded Age in early May, he wore custom tails with quilted panels, also by Gee's Bend x Greg Lauren. There Questlove said in a red carpet interview that he 'wanted to highlight Black women who have sacrificed for the country'.
Image: Addie Peal Nicholson, 'Housetop'-Nine-Block 'Half-Log Cabin' Variation, 1974. Collection of Minneapolis Institute of Art. Museum purchase and gift of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation.
The women Questlove honours are a collective of Black artists from Gee's Bend, Alabama, who stitch quilts characterised by intricate patchwork, bright, bold colour and motion. As the Soul Grown Deep website states, these quilters are the descendants of enslaved people, and they passed down their techniques from generation to generation. Seven quilters partnered with Lauren to create Questlove's tails, and they sewed their names into the lining, elevating the garment beyond clothing to art, and, indeed, history.
Some months before Questlove wore his quilted jacket and his quilted tails, he was transformed into a quilt by artist Bisa Butler for the NYT Magazine profile noted above. Butler, who is known for her colourful, multimedia quilt portraits of African Americans, used African Dutch wax cloth, lace, silk, velvet and beads—both seed and bugle—to create this textured quilt-and-appliqué portrait of the musician. Butler draws on a variety of approaches for her quilts: she studied painting at Howard University and is, according to notes from the Art Institute of Chicago's exhibition of her work, inspired by Gordon Parks' photos, Romare Bearden's collages, and Faith Ringgold's story quilts.
Image: Gee's Bend x Greg Lauren, Custom Tails, from Greg Lauren Facebook, 2022.
Storytellers all, Questlove, the quilters of Gee's Bend x Greg Lauren and Bisa Butler use fabric to honour the past and craft a new narrative in the present.