Faith Ringgold: Tell It Like It Is

Harlem-born artist, author and activist Faith Ringgold painted some of the most truthful and empowering representations of African Americans during the civil rights and women’s movements of the 1960s and 1970s.

At the time, the art establishment dismissed her seminal American People series as political art by a woman, and a black woman at that. Undeterred, Ringgold continued to tell her story using numerous art forms, including traditional quilts which have their roots in the slave culture of the South. Ringgold reinterpreted their function to tell politically charged stories, something she has also done with her illustrated children’s books.

Now in her late 80s, Ringgold is considered one of the most important African American artists, whose work is increasingly relevant today. imagine… spends time with this impassioned feminist, civil rights activist and champion of imagination, following her in her New Jersey studio and in the heart of Harlem as she prepares for her London show at the Serpentine Gallery.