Empowerment Through Art: A Biographical Study on Faith Ringgold Dissertation

Introduction

Among all the female African-American artists in the United States, none are as closely attuned to her heritage, identity, sexuality and politics as Faith Ringgold.

Challenging traditional moral and philosophical boundaries, she mercilessly reveals her inner narratives entwined with her knowledge and experience of their racial history through unconventional images – that is, as far as “American” art is concerned (Baraka, 1985: 12).

Her soft-sculpture works juxtapose simple expressionistic figures with traditional African iconography dabbed with a touch of the contemporary – proof that it is still very much rooted in her socio-cultural history – while her more modern installation works incorporate performance art (Withers, 1980: 207).

To quote Baraka in her description of Ringgold’s choice of subject matter: “America has always been violence and blood for Africans and African Americans… So Faith’s [works speak] of the present (and, unfortunately, the future) and obviously about the past” (Baraka, 1985: 12).

Some scholars articulate that Ringgold only reveals her own experiences, but her creations are aimed at making people understand the unfairness and cruelty of life which many African Americans have to face. Ringgold’s art is, to great extent, her own political program. Her art is the scope of her beliefs, inclinations and longings.

Thus, while considering her artistic works it is essential to understand her political beliefs which shaped her art. This paper will examine how her socio-political life affected her art, taking into consideration her life experiences as an artist and a literary scholar, an African American woman.

Life and Times: A Brief Biography

Faith Ringgold is a strongly opinionated artist who professes her political beliefs though visual and literary art in various journals and other publications, although she is more known for being the former as some of her artworks have been called as “informed graphics” and “Idea Paintings” (Baraka, 1985: 12).

These titles best fit the essence of her works since she is an African-American mainstream feminist with an unshakeable commitment to cultural studies and a lifelong fascination for political and gender equality, as well as for identity.

Koppman also points out Ringgold’s art is based on “the cross cultural and generational traditions of women’s fabric work and storytelling”, and underlines that it is “an art that blends social commentary with aesthetic sensibility, an art that makes viewers alternately laugh and cry” (1991: 40).

Born on October 8, 1930, in Harlem, New York, she grew under the watchful care of her mother, who was “a creative force on her own” (Anderson, 2006: 365). Her fashion designer mother taught her to sew fabrics in a creative way, as well as how to sew quilts – fueling her fascination for story quilts, and her quest for identity, because her great-great-great grandmother had once been a slave in another life and sewn quilts upon the desires of her “white masters”.

Ringgold employs various quilt-making traditions learned from her, such as appliqués and patchwork, and with the knowledge of their history, she weaves them with themes and elements directly derived from her heritage, such as the spiritual symbols of asymmetry and bright colors.

This can be regarded as the first (and primary) influence which made her to devote her artistic skills to revealing the secrets of souls of African Americans, the heritage of her people. Nancy Doyle, a well known art writer from America, in her artist profile of Ringgold describes:

Quilts in the African-American slave community served various purposes: warmth, preserving memories and events, storytelling, and even as “message boards” for the Underground Railroad to guide slaves on their way north to freedom. (Doyle, 2008)

Sometime after her obtaining an art degree, she began to paint in the time of Civil Rights movement, influencing her subject and themes, such as with ‘Mr. Charlie’, a painting of a white man to portray the pervading racism then. Mr. Charlie is the generic term of African-Americans for white people. Most of her oil paintings in the 60’s commonly dealt with racial tension and the great cultural divide within America because it was what the times called for (Koppman, 1991: 40).

Thus, Ringgold becomes a frontier of those who are not afraid to say aloud that the democratic society is not that democratic for some groups of people. Anderson describes this period of “persistent poverty in the black community” as a testimony to “the powerful forces opposing the systemic changes needed to adequately address racial inequality and institutional racism” (2006: 364).

Just like Barbara Kreuger, another world renowned American artist famous for striking feminist works, Faith Ringgold chose to make her art about the insanity of the crazy place where we live. Then the 70’s came, and it was a decade of discovery and experimentation for Ringgold.

Eventually, the story quilts came, her mode of aesthetic for the last decade or so, which arose from a deep need to satisfy her urges to narrate stories, not just through visual symbols or images, but rather with words (Koppman, 1991: 41).

She also became acquainted with the feminist movement, and soon this too caught on with her growing choices on subject matter. Nevertheless, she was more preoccupied with the issues of equality since she was involved in the feminist movement concerned with African American women’s rights. For instance, Ringgold tried to object and change the existing trend when women African-American artists were excluded from the mainstream art institutions.

One of her paintings was about the children in an art museum from Europe playing under masterpieces while ignoring the eyes watching them to depict how African-American art is ignored and seen as childish when compared to that of the ‘masters’, especially when it comes from women such as herself – an issue that is not so prevalent anymore now, but was big back then.

Art as Catharsis for Identity-Crises

With fragmentation as the order of the day, crises of identity are becoming more and more prevalent, particularly with Western cultures that feel the full effects of narrow specialization or “specialism” as coined by Jacques Barzun, as well as reductionism through a fragmented “synthetic/mass” culture focusing on individualism.

Ringgold answers this kind of divide with significant art that is imbued with an almost spiritual force. Truly enough, Theophile Gautier’s doctrine l’art pour l’art or art for art’s sake has already been deemed obsolete; art is no longer just self-serving, for it has found one higher purpose among many in Ringgold’s art: the refection of societal problems, and a call to action that empowers the marginalized (Koppman, 1991: 40-42).

Traditional art is something aesthetically pleasing that has been continuously created properly for two or more generations. It is this which Ringgold fuses with contemporary themes and modern aesthetics.

The struggles between fragmentation and identity formation, political inequality and racial discrimination fuel her sharp activist art; so fervent is she to make a difference through expression, in fact, that her works already emulate a solid identity for itself that aims to uplift the marginalized and oppressed African-Americans.

Although her quilts and figures are presented in an effortlessly straightforward manner, her themes are anything but; it’s quite a simple matter to see her art, but it’s another thing to actually perceive it.

One is therefore left wondering: How does one fully comprehend the multiple layers of significance behind Faith Ringgold’s works? Evidently, only in tracing her journey as an artist can one understand the many meanings within her art, for it is in journeying through her creative evolution that one can truly delve into her psyche.

Art and Representation

A four-piece ensemble of life-sized dolls with African-inspired faces and woven textile clothing, the installation entitled Mama Jones, Andrew, Barbara and Faith is from the Family of Woman series, and portrays individuals from the artist’s memories (Withers, 1980: 207).

Capturing essences rather than façades of childhood friends, these soft sculptures are a testament to her dedication on preserving her heritage and imbuing them with a sense of herself. Without taking her dolls and quilts to the next level, she remains from the path of the radical feminist movement.

The most important art that pertains to identity, however, is entitled The Wake and Resurrection of the Bicentennial Negro and features two central characters, Bena and Buba, in a funeral, and the audience as participants of an improvised ritual. These participants are asked to wear costumes and masks to “mourn” the dolls, making them the family of the deceased.

Buba is the junkie of the family, and he died from drug overdose, while his wife, Bena, died of heartache at the loss of her husband. This was created in a time when drug abuse was rampant, and it shows how a family mainly suffers for the actions of the drug user.

An installation holding a cautionary tale, the figures are placed on a green, black and red flag – the colors of Rastafarri and La Vie Boheme – to serve as a warning on the impacts of drug abuse and social indifference. Ringgold then directs the performance with the help of her volunteer actors, and they act out the scenario with improvised dialogue.

The audience gets the feel not of an actual wake, but of something hopeful and joyous, as they know from the title that these figures would be resurrected:

After a lengthy and emotional wake (combining music and dance) they come back to life through the love of their family and especially of their mother, and become reformed…. The performance combines elements of the Black-American wake with African beliefs that [according to Terrie S. Rouse] “hold ancestral deities in a state of limbo until they are released through dance to return to the community in search of new lives.”

That is, African beliefs in the continued life of the spirits of the dead are here superimposed on the realities of 20th-century life in America.’ Connections are made between the dead and the living; hope and despair; past, present, and future; joy and sorrow; and the theatrical and mundane. (Koppman, 1991: 41)

Presented first in 1976, The Wake rouses the remaining audience’s senses to wake up and smell the reeking urbanite coffee – that there are social sicknesses in their midst, and that it is time to change it and be reborn anew. In Art Journal, Ringgold writes her sentiments on social awareness – the same sentiments she uses in the creation of her art: “People don’t often pay attention until their key no longer fits their lock…It is in your best interests to understand what is happening here” (Ringgold, 1991: 86).

The Wake shows the value of participation and unity, of never forgetting one’s own heritage, and of lessons on the hardships of life; people need to be more than observers and answer the call to action, for social change is a long-fought battle that will always be in need of more soldiers. But the key lies in knowing that the sickness is real, and her art strives to inform the masses of just that. She writes further:

They say: “if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen.” but I say: don’t go! Too many cooks don’t spoil the broth. Not at this meal. We need your help, your understanding, your generosity. This country has to change. That is the message that helms and bush have brought us. We have to come together to watch that pot, see that it keeps boiling, and add water to it from time to time.

A hot pot with no water can explode, kill the cooks, destroy the kitchen, create a famine, or worse, a war. That’s no way to nourish and nurture our progeny, keep the peace, our democracy, and all our freedoms secure. (Ringgold, 1991: 86)

Children’s Writing

Ringgold has always believed that one should know one’s own roots and culture, and what is more, to understand whether there is equality: “I don’t feel restricted by being female, any more than I feel restricted by being Black or being American-these are the facts of my life. It’s powerful to know who you are. The restriction comes in not knowing” (Withers, 1980: 207).

Tar Beach is the first among a series to have been written in 1988; it’s a modern fairy tale about a young eight year old girl named Cassie Louise Lightfoot that provides His Majesty of the George Washington Bridge with the inspiration of liberation (Koppman, 1991: 41). The summary is as follows:

As she gazes up at the stars from her mattress on the roof, she sees herself flying high over the bridge, over the skyscrapers of the city, over her family playing cards, over her little brother lying next to her. Ringgold gives her voice: “Now I have claimed it. All I had to do was fly over it for it to be mine forever. I can wear it like a giant diamond necklace, or just fly above it and marvel at its sparkling beauty. I can fly, yes fly. Cassie Louise Lightfoot, only eight years old and in the third grade and I can fly. With faith, one can conquer the world. (Koppman, 1991: 41-42)

Part autobiography and part allegory, Ringgold stays consistent with her themes in that she ingrains them in African-American social history, but even closer to home, she chooses her very own Harlem in the late 30’s as the setting of the story.

It’s true that in children’s literature, the audience’s attention is garnered through an array of simplistic and effective methods, such as reeling them in with a clean and fairly obvious plot, an interesting, completely plausible yet a bit fantastical plot, a character that’s’ easy to relate to, or even just a good narrator; now, although Tar Beach fulfills the latter, it definitely ignores the former, as it goes beyond what children expect.

Simplistic at first glance, Tar Beach is filled with insight and historical tidbits directly wrought from the author’s somewhat painful experiences. For example, in the book, while Cassie is flying and seeing all the interesting sights, while she passes them by, she is still nonetheless aware of her surroundings. In this story the little girls, in her own way, feels the unfairness of the world she lives in:

Ringgold makes it clear that even as a child, she knows her skilled father (who helped build the George Washington Bridge) is not allowed in a labor union, because his grandfather was not part of one. Ringgold’s childish cadence in language also offers the feeling of flight to the reader–but again makes Cassie conscious of her world: she knows that certain people simply see her father as colored or a half-breed Indian. Cassie however, flies over the union building and claims it for her father and continues her journey, undaunted. (Sweeney, 2011)

Imbuing the tale with a moral lesson is also an effective device used in enriching the plot and recall of Tar Beach; it shows African-American kids to be strong despite the odds:

Freedom needs careful preparation and a watchful eye. Not only will a watched pot boil, but when it comes to cooking up some freedom only the watched pot boils. All the others get turned off. Or boil over. The reality of this obscenity is that it exposes the corrupt values of American life. It is an assault on the future of America. It is what we have willed our children. The art we produce is only the expression of the obscene realities we have created (Ringgold, 1991: 84).

Pigeon keepers, rooftop gardeners and construction workers all explain the reality of their lives as to why they chose to do what they do, reflecting the need for employment to assuage poverty while maintaining it within the confines of a child’s complex imagination.

All in all, Tar Beach is a quilt woven with the author’s life story and wisdom that makes it an award-winning must read for everyone about the freedom to dream, which applies to non African-Americans as well; it contains valuable life lessons presented in easy to digest, bite-sized portions of interesting narrative and vibrant art.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, Ringgold is a good writer, teacher and political activist, and an even better visual artist, given that she has successfully integrated into her works her deeper, richer knowledge of her own heritage, and in doing so, she makes sure that the culture of her generation remains intact.

It is essential to keep in mind that art “should extend beyond itself to become an act of ethical reform, influencing public opinion, public action, and pubic contribution” (Brustein, 1964: 184). Ringgold’s artistic work is one of the best examples of such extended art.

Faith Ringgold has been given numerous awards, written eleven children’s books, and has accomplished so much, all because her great-great grandmother taught her many things which she will never forget, and which hopefully other people will discover and learn from as well through her quilted stories and paintings.

Ringgold continues her legacy to enlighten people through the creation of quilted stories that exemplify the struggles and hardships experienced by every African- American, and perhaps the ways on how to cope to social strife. In such consists the enduring appeal of Ringgold’s exceptional vision.

Works Cited

Anderson, Joyce Owens. “Faith Ringgold, We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold.” The Journal of African American History 91.3 (2006): 364-365.

Baraka, Amiri. “Faith.” Black American Literature Forum 19.1 (1985): 12-13.

Brustein, Robert Sanford. The Theatre of Revolt. Boston: Little, Brown, 1964.

Doyle, Nancy. “Artist Profile: Faith Ringgold”. Nancy Doyle Fine Art. 2008. Web.

Koppman, Debbie. “Odyssey of Faith.” Woman’s Art Journal 12.2 (1991): 40-42.

Ringgold, Faith. Those Cookin’ up Ideas for Freedom Take Heed: Only a Watched Pot Boils. Art Journal. 50.3 (1991): 84-86.

Sweeney, Mallory. “Faith Ringgold’s Tar Beach, A Literary review.” Literary Traveler Web.

Withers, Josephine. “Faith Ringgold: Art.” Feminist Studies 6.1 (1980): 207-211.