Faith Ringgold and Feminist Art, Research Paper Example

“You’re black, yes, but you’re also a woman. And you’re not getting anything special for being a black woman, you’re getting something less. And that’s when I opened my eyes.” This quote from Faith Ringgold, from a 2013 interview, presents a concise synopsis of the horizon from which her art develops. Ringgold is an artist whose work emerges from a position of social engagement. She does not only want to confront the dominant socio-political discourses from the position of the female or from the position of the African-American. She rather uses her “double” minority status to challenge the system of values that creates minorities and that perpetuates inequality. Ringgold in this sense is a radical representative of an artist concerned with social justice: for Ringgold, the artist is not someone detached from social reality, living in the realm of abstract creation. The artist rather has an obligation: this is to challenge social inequality and to provide a voice for the minority in all its diverse forms. All her work arguably reflects this primary motivation. From her poetry to her quilted narratives, her extensive bibliography is a manifestation of her ethical commitments. Some of her key works include Tar Beach (1991), We Flew Over the Bridge: Memories of Faith Ringgold (1995), If a Bus Could Talk (1999) and the poetry of Bronzewill Boys and Girls (2007), demonstrating her diversity as an artist, and the singularity of her ethical commitment.

This ethical commitment is apparent in all Ringgold’s work. The series Tar Beach presents a closer view of the precise aesthetic techniques that Ringgold employs as artist to advance her basic ethical commitments. The form of Tar Beach is what immediately captures attention: it is presented in the style of so-called “story quilts.” Ringgold here synthesizes the visual aspect of quilting, therefore, with narrative. Tar Beach, accordingly, transcends any simple dichotomy between visual art and the art of the written word. This transcendence arguably reflects the socio-politically motivated center of Ringgold’s work: as an activist, she wants to transcend the dominant hegemonies and open a space for the minority. As the Philadelphia Museum of Art’s official summary of Tar Beach concludes, “Ringgold’s art explores social and political themes and features powerful women, especially African American women. Cassie’s ability to fly gives her freedom and power to achieve anything she sets her mind to.” The use of language, storytelling and voice in Tar Beach re-iterate this precise point. The story opens with the following sentence, accompanied by its visual representation: “I will always remember when the stars fell down around me and lifted me up above the George Washington Bridge.” Ringgold’s work in this regard could be criticized as a form of escapism, but this not an escapism for the sake of escapism: this is an attempt to overcome the limitations and the “ghettoes” that are forced upon minorities in a dominant white, patriarchal discourse. The ethereal voice of Tar Beach rather demands to be understood from Ringgold’s socio-political stance: it is inseparable from this stance. Ringgold’s message is one of activism, of an attempt to go beyond the bonds that society imposes. The conclusion of Tar Beach makes this point lucid: language is used here to inspire. “All you need is somewhere to go you can’t get to any other way. The next thing you know, you’re flying among the stars.” In other words, one has to understand the precise social conditions, the oppressive discourses, that are to be overcome if one truly wants to escape. The individual who wants to “get away” must understand exactly what one is getting away from. For Ringgold these are discourse of racism, sexism, and of degradation.

Ringgold’s art is provocative in its imagery and its use of language, evoking a sort of fairy tale. But at the same time it is very real. Despite the fantastical appearance of works such as Tar Beach, there is an underlying, hard and cold reality of Ringgold’s work: this is the oppression that is to be overcome so as to create new and equally real realities where such oppression no longer limits the human being.

Works Cited

Obie, Brooke & Faith Ringgold. “Interview: Faith Ringgold Talks Art and War.” Ebony, February 25, 2013.

Author Unknown. “Tar Beach 2 Quilt.” Philadelphia Museum of Art. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014. Retrieved April 5 2014 http://www.philamuseum.org/booklets/12_71_143_0.html

Ringgold, Faith. Tar Beach. New York: Dragonfly, 1996.