Threads of Knowledge: Dindga McCannon and Aliyah Bonnette in Conversation

June 15, 2023
What that Quilt Knows About Me explores the capacity of quilts to record and pass down community and family histories. Included in the exhibition is Dindga McCannon’s quilt-like piece Mary Lou Williams - Jazz Pianist. In this textile homage to “the greatest woman jazz pianist in the world," the Harlem artist captures her neighborhood’s culturally rich environment while highlighting the vibrancy of Williams’s music and her contribution to the legacy of jazz.
In this program, McCannon will discuss the creative process behind the making of Mary Lou Williams - Jazz Pianist. She will share how she combines found objects, paint, photographs and fibers to create a powerful portrait of a Black woman artist and to tell her story.
Like McCannon, textile artist Aliyah Bonnette learned quilting from women in her family. “By incorporating the very fabrics and unfinished quilts [my late grandmother] touched and sewed herself [in the 1970’s], my practice becomes a space to stitch together the stories and memories of Black women across generations,” she stated.
Join McCannon and Bonnette for a dynamic conversation about the intuitive and improvisational art of quilting, moving across various techniques, materials and temporalities.
Moderated by writer and curator Dessane Lopez Cassell, this conversation explores the unique role of fabric, needle and thread in the production and transmission of African-American experiences and histories. With a focus on Black feminist imagination, this program will examine the historical significance of quiltmaking while revisiting women portraiture.