Kindred Spirits Quilt Show

Come to the Quilt Show on Third Friday. The theme is Deconstructing the Mammy Archetype.

The Mammy archetype is a stereotypical portrayal of black women in American popular culture. It is a caricature of a nurturing, maternal figure who is often depicted as overweight, asexual, and happily serving white people. The Mammy stereotype has been used to justify the enslavement and subjugation of black women and has been perpetuated through various forms of media.

Modern African American quilt work provides an avenue for deconstructing the Mammy archetype. Quilting has long been a form of creative expression for African American women, and in recent years, many black artists have used the medium to challenge and subvert racist stereotypes.
Overall, modern African American quilt work offers a powerful means of deconstructing the Mammy archetype and challenging the ways in which Black women have been historically misrepresented in American culture. By using the medium of quilting to tell their own stories and celebrate their own experiences, Black women are able to reclaim narratives and assert their own agency.

Image credit: photo by J. Stokes of Fannie Lou Hamer quilt by Kimberley Pierce Cartwright