SF African American Senior Narrative Quilt Project

I have been working for the past 6 years on a project I call the San Francisco African American Senior Narrative Quilt Project.This project consist of a series of quilts which include portraits of African American seniors living in San Francisco. Each portrait becomes a historical record of the people that help shape this city. With the steady population decline of San Francisco African Americans; I felt this project was of great importance. For me it was a race against time since many of the seniors that participated in this project were in their 70’s 80’s and 90’s. I not only wanted the quilts to serve as a documentation of these Black communities but, I needed to chronicle its history so I began to record the narratives of the seniors. This project has taken on an even greater meaning to me because several of the seniors whose portraits were included on the quilts unfortunately passed away due to the covid 19 virus. Unexpectedly the pandemic changed the dynamics of how the portraits were to be used. Some of the painted portrait had a dual pursue. Families asked to use a copy of the portrait for their deceased loved one’s obituaries. I was honored to have my art serve the families in that way.

Financiado pelo capítulo San Francisco, CA (August 2020)