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ROADMAP rediscovered at the Houston Museum of Fin
e Arts in a touring exhibition. This marked the beginning of institutional recognition for women of the Bend, and their long lineage of artistry. In Mary Lee Bendolph’s “Grandma Strips” (2009), irregular strips of colour form boxes of varying shape and dimension to create discontinuous patterning. Every decision, from the placement of each piece of scrap material to the contrast of colour, leads to the creation of a jubilant object. Bendolph’s work is characteristic of African American quilting in its structural variation and use of improvisation, much like jazz music. It rejects traditions in European American quilting, such as uniformity and symmetry. Swing low, Sweet Chariot, an African American slave song or ‘spiritual’, can be heard faintly filling the rooms of IMMA’s exhibition Kith & Kin: The Quilts of Gee’s Bend, curated by Raina Lampkins Fielder and coorganised by Souls Grown Deep, a non-profit organisation dedicated to supporting work by black artists from the American South. Hemmed in by the Alabama River, Gee’s Bend or Boykin is situated along Alabama’s Black Belt, so named for its nutrient-dense, black, loamy soil. The term takes on dimension in the 19th century as landowners establish cotton plantations throughout the region. Gees Bend, formerly the site of a plantation, was founded by Joseph Gee and later acquired by Mark Pettway. Like the land, people of the Bend carry the surnames of their ancestral enslavers, Pettway, Bennett, and Irby, among others. The Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers are a group of intergenerational women with a 200-year tradition of producing distinctive, handsewn quilts. It was a utilitarian practice borne out of the necessity to keep their children warm in unheated homes, and amidst the chill of Alabama nights. They utilise scrap materials, old clothes, and recycled textiles to create intricate compositions. Suspending from the ceiling, twelve quilts adorn the walls of IMMA’s Gallery 3. Fashioned as tapestries, the quilts are removed from their former function. Just off the first room, a documentary by filmmaker Maris Curran introduces the quilters, their story, and the Bend. The sounds of voices crooning Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, cicadas buzzing, and crickets chirping envelop the audience. The quilts appear ebullient yet tranquil; they beg to wrap themselves around the viewer. It is the first exhibition of Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers in Ireland, but the collective has emerged and receded into memory throughout the years. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 70s, the Freedom Quilting Bee was established in Wilcox County, Alabama. It was one of the few black 26 Kith & Kin: The Quilts of Gee’s Bend runs until the 27 Oct 2025 in Gallery 3, at IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art). Kith & Kin The Quilts of Gee’s Bend at IMMA WORDS Grace O’Boyle Recognized as a pillar of the group due to her dedication to civil rights, Bendolph’s role within the collective was not solely artistic. In 1999, Bendolph was the subject of “Crossing Over”, the Los Angeles Times article that won the Pulitzer Prize. It told the story of Bendolph and her community’s attempt to reestablish the ferry service along the Alabama River. Because the Bend is so remote, it relies on the ferry as its primary mode of transportation. The ferry was discontinued during the Civil Rights Movement to block African American voters from reaching Camden, the seat of Wilcox County, to register to vote. Those from the Bend had to drive 40 miles through narrow, rural roads to reach Camden. In 2006, after a 40-year hiatus, the Alabama Department of Transportation restored the ferry. women’s cooperatives of the time and sought to generate income for communities still living under the socio-economic effects of slavery. The Bee partnered with Sears Roebuck & Co., a major American retailer, to manufacture corduroy pillow covers. The contract sustained the Bee for twenty years, bringing jobs and opportunities to women in the community. Nettie Pettway, a quilter whose work with the group spanned five decades, recollects to the Souls Grown Deep website, “the Bee was the first business Black people in Wilcox owned. It was the first time I knew I was special, the first job I had, excusing cotton picking.” William Arnett, collector and curator, was researching African American vernacular in art when he came across a photograph of Annie Mae Young’s quilt draped over a woodpile. The quilt, made of faded denim work clothes and bright orange corduroy, would prompt Arnett to travel to Alabama and meet Young. In September 2002, the work of the Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers was Quinnie Pettway’s “Zigzag” (c.1975) is composed of cotton and rich velveteen. The blend of textiles, combined with Pettway’s choice of colours — deep blue, mustard, white, and cadmium red — imbues a heraldic quality onto the quilt. Sally Mae Pettway Mixon, Quinnie’s sister, features in a side room just before the end of the exhibition. Her piece “Sweep” appears like a rainbow in the shape of an L, multiplying and layering in many small sweeps. Pettway and Pettway Mixon are the great-granddaughters of Dinah Miller, the earliest known quiltmaker in the Bend. Miller was illegally abducted from West Africa and enslaved in 1860. It’s thought that she was captive on the Clotilda, the last known US slave ship. Wallis Bird, photo: Tobias Ortmann In the first room of the show, the audience encounters a style of abstraction that is emboldened by colour – these objects are joyous and force the eye to jump around the composition. As the exhibition progresses, diversity of style, technique, and generational tradition emerges. Energy shifts in the final room as colour is tempered, the quilts are quieter, no less energetic or rhythmic, but they are a subtle presence now. Symmetry is thought to be intrinsic to harmony, but there is little symmetry in the quilts displayed at IMMA. Yet, they are harmonious objects – perfect because they are authentic expressions of life, tradition, community, and survival. Forged in isolation, the quilts of Gee’s Bend are symbols of resistance and carriers of memory made with honour and remarkable artistic fervour.