(Photo by Rabbani and Solimene Photography/Getty Images)
As WBLS continues to celebrate Black History Month and its game changers, today we highlight painter and activist, Faith Ringgold. Ringgold was born in New York City in 1930 and worked as an art teacher in public schools. There, she began working on a series of paintings that focused on the Civil Rights Movement from a female perspective called American People.
Within the aforementioned series, it includes paintings such as “Neighbors, Die, and The Flag is Bleeding” that focused on the racial tension during that era.
Although a painter in the early 1970s, Ringgold decided to take her art in a new direction. After coming back from a trip to Amsterdam, Ringgold became inspired to create cloth dolls and soft sculptures including one that was inspired by basketball legend Wilt Chamberlain.
A lot of Ringgold’s art also includes acrylic paintings, African-style masks,quilts, and she is also a successful children’s book author and illustrator.
Faith Ringgold has received many awards including the National Endowment for the Arts Award, a Guggenheim Fellowship for painting, and a NAACP Image Award. Her artwork can be seen in major museums around the world.
