With this piece, I was thinking of the history of quilts in African American culture and how they told stories and were used along the Underground Railroad to point runaways in the direction of safety. Patterns such as a bear paw on a quilt hung outside a safe house is believed to have meant safe food and water were near by. In relation to my Hair Map series; I was also thinking of how cornrows were believed to be platted in ways that sent messages or acted as maps to escape enslavement. This quilt is completely hand braided and hand sewn together. This is a little over 2 months work of work.

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40x 50 ft, synthetic hair, 2023

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