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The Shroud Series: Quilt Shroud

Anacostia Community Museum

Object Details

Caption
This unusually long quilt features purple and blue batik fabric patches applied onto a plain peach colored fabric. The batik also forms the quilt’s backing and binding. At the center of the quilt, the largest patch bears the image of a person talking or singing. Perhaps the griot-like figure is telling a story about the surrounding images, which feature multicolored fish, bananas, gourds, and abstract designs. Some of the images repeat on the back of the quilt. A talking drum, or Dundun in Yoruba, is prominent among the abstract designs bordering a series of three rectangles in the center back.
Fay Pullen Fairbrother (1947-1997) created this quilt in the early 1990s as part of an art installation called The Shroud Series, which explored racial violence in the United States. Entitled In the Beginning, this quilt represents elements of African life prior to enslavement in the Americas.
Cite As
Anacostia Community Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Between 1990 and 1997
Accession Number
2002.0011.0009
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
quilt
Medium
cotton, polyester, batting
Dimensions
90 × 47 1/8 in. (228.6 × 119.7 cm)
See more items in
Anacostia Community Museum Collection
Anacostia Community Museum
Record ID
acm_2002.0011.0009
Metadata Usage (text)
Not determined
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/dl8bc0462cd-20e1-42d9-b63a-e0640a9f7f8c
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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