Faith Ringgold
American, born 1930
ACLU Justice Equality Liberty and Democracy, 2012
Screenprint on paper
Edition: AP 15/20
Lehigh University Art Galleries, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA.
This particular print was produced at the remarkable Experimental Printmaking Institute (EPI) at Lafayette College in Easton. This print was part of a gift of 26 prints given to LUAG directly from EPI where they were produced, on the occasion of LUAG’s exhibition :
th(ink)ing:
The Experimental Printmaking Institute at Lafayette College
August 27, 2014 – December 7, 2014
Curated by Susan Ellis and Ricardo Viera
Faith Ringgold, born 1930 in Harlem New York, began creating her artistic impact in the early 1960’s when she created her first political painting. She was passionate civil rights and gender equality activist, acting in many political situations. After abandoning the traditional approach of painting with acrylic’s she positioned her focus towards quilt making. Ringgold quilted stories that needed to be heard, since she struggles to have her autobiography published. Her quilts wrote re-wrote stories that once had had meaning, such as her 1983 Who’s Afraid of Aunt Jemima? quilt. She went so on and so forth in creating these stories to empower women, and redirect the male gaze. “Ringgold’s use of narrativity in the production of new feminine identities was shared by the other artists, many of whom had been shaped by the 1970s feminists.” (Chadwick p.428) In addition “Faith Ringgold [focused her] attention on the distance between the black community and the American mainstream.” (Chadwick p.357)
Art like Faith Ringgold’s was a direct representation of what the ACLU stands for. She used her voice to fight for the racial, and sexist inequality that she has to endure. “Some women of color, like Faith Ringgold…had played formative roles in the feminist art movement from the beginning.” (Chadwick p.402) Ringgold has been an activist since 1970s, parbticaptng in several feminist and anti-racist organizations. In 1968, Ringgold and her fellow artists protested a major modernist art exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Members of this protest demanded that woman account for at like 50% of the art displayed. Not only were women artists excluded from this show, but no African-American artists were represented either. Ringgold stated in an video that “The gallery dealer would look at my legs and not my art” and “they would call the guys inside…but not me”
ACLU Justice Equality Liberty and Democracy, was a print created in 2012 by Ringgold as limited series of 100 prints for the ACLU of New Jersey Foundation. I was initially intrigued by this print due to my recent education in politics throughout our society’s current global pandemic. I found this print to be incredibly relevant to out society today, and wanted to take the time to learn more about it, and Faith Ringgold as an artist.
Throughout her career, Faith Ringgold has been the recipient of over 80 awards and honors and has been awarded 23 Honorary Doctorates. Faith although her art didn’t directly displayed what we classify as a “new woman” her ideas most definitely did, and even her actions spoke louder than her words.
Citations:
Chadwick, Whitney, Women, Art and Society.New York, NY:Thames and Hudson, 1990 Print.
Faith Ringgold, American, b. 1930. ACLU Justice Equality Liberty and Democracy. 2012. Artstor, library-artstor-org.ezproxy.lib.lehigh.edu/asset/24691826