Title

Riverside Revival: Lift Every Voice and Sing

Description

Exhibition Label:
This quilt tells a love story. The artist’s paternal grandparents met at a tent church revival in Arkansas, where his grandfather sang in a quartet. Old choir robes from Black churches in St. Louis make up the central figures extending their arms upwards in praise. The background comprises vintage quilts, donated clothing, and fabric from Ghana, chosen by the artist to honor how the women in his family have long made beautiful quilts from recycled clothes.
A seventh-generation quilter, Basil Kincaid connects personal and collective memories. He notes, “you can look at where the materials come from and decode the tapestry like a mythology. Future people may not know our religions, their rise and fall, but they will know that we drew energy from dancing and singing together by the riverside.”
The subtitle, Lift Every Voice and Sing, pays tribute to the poem-turned-song by brothers James Weldon Johnson and John Rosamond Johnson that became the canonical song of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and is often referred to as the Black national anthem.
This Present Moment: Crafting a Better World, 2022

Creator

Basil Kincaid

Subject

Artists

African American Artists

St. Louis Artists

Medium

Clothes from the artist, donated clothes, donated corduroy, old choir robes from Black Churches in St. Louis, fragments of vintage quilts, Ghanaian fabric and embroidery

Date

2019-2021

Source

Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery

Identifier

2021.50.1