Tar Beach #2

Faith Ringgold is renowned for her colorful figurative works that address issues of gender and racial equality. While employing and ultimately elevating media associated with the domestic realm such as dolls and quilts, Ringgold has also exhibited large-scale paintings and written and illustrated numerous award-winning children's books. Her first and perhaps best-known book, Tar Beach, tells the magical tale of a small girl in Harlem who discovers that through her imagination she is free to fly anywhere in the world. The partially autobiographical and inherently universal story was derived firstly from this story quilt in which the artist silkscreened a detailed scene of the imaginary rooftop beach from which the plot unfolds. Above the Harlem skyline, characters fly joyfully among the stars. This work embodies the best of Ringgold's style incorporating quilted patterning that is seamlessly melded with narrative and figurative imagery in a layered yet succinct composition.