Soft/Cover
Fabric Workshop and Museum
1214 Arch St.
Philadelphia
Dec. 5, 2024
“I have told him it’s very easy, anyone can fly. All you need is somewhere to go that you can’t get to any other way. The next thing you know, you’re flying among the stars.” In the final lines of Faith Ringgold’s 1990 children’s book, Tar Beach, symbolically-named main character Cassie Louise Lightfoot encourages her brother to follow her in flight — by lifting off the roof of their Harlem apartment and soaring over the George Washington Bridge.
On the eighth floor of The Fabric Workshop and Museum hangs Faith Ringgold’s “Tar Beach 2,” the iconic quilt which accompanies her children’s book. This quilt is on display as part of “Soft/Cover” at the museum, an exhibit which showcases fabric and screen printed objects that relate to the body. “Tar Beach 2” was created by Ringgold when she was an artist-in-residence at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, in 1990.
Navigating the skinny elevators in a wheelchair caused my art-viewing eyes to feel tired pretty quickly. But when I stumbled upon “Tar Beach 2,” I was immediately transported back to 2008, when I first read Tar Beach in my elementary school art class. The story introduces us to a young Black, Indigenous girl who dreams about safety and freedom for her family. Though she imagines security coming one day in the form of riches, Cassie clearly loves her humble home in Harlem. She refers to the roof of her apartment as “Tar Beach,” a platform that lets her see the lights of the city and hear the sounds of her neighborhood celebrating beautiful summer nights. As Cassie lifts off into the sky, she teaches us about dreaming worlds that don’t yet exist. This is a lesson that many of us have to carry, as adults in a country that doesn’t prioritize minority needs, in order to carry on.
As a child I was enamored with this story and the accompanying artwork. Today, visiting the quilt felt like a celebrity sighting. How delicious to see it up close, the texture of the cotton and silk, the collage of fabrics making up the frame around the narrative image. Deep jewel tones, Cassie laying next to her brother on her tar beach. Everything is soft; the buildings that make up the city are the perfect shades of olive green, creamsicle orange, pink and cherry red.
Lines of text are seen among the stars of the night sky. These numbered paragraphs are immediately recognizable from the children’s book version, the entire story of Tar Beach handwritten above the George Washington Bridge. This is a story quilt, and though it rightfully hangs in a museum, it feels like I could just as easily tuck in behind the large glass frame and call it a night. I am not only lost in Faith Ringgold’s world and wanting my body to be weighted down by this fabulous quilt — I am feeling transported to my childhood. Falling asleep during read-aloud in elementary school, wondering where I will get to go in my dreams.
When I was growing up, Tar Beach meant flying somewhere new so that I didn’t have to be uncomfortable in my skin where I lived begrudgingly day in and out. Now that I am an adult, Disabled and a textile artist myself, “Tar Beach 2” takes on new meaning. This story taking the form of a quilt is important. There’s the fact that Faith Ringgold’s enslaved ancestors were practiced quilt makers. And there’s also the feeling that Tar Beach is meant for the quilt — it is meant for children and adults alike to tuck in and dream beyond the limits of our society.
When we're young, there's beauty in the abundance of imagination. Accessing ownership over our world can feel as easy as "flying." It's as we age, and learn how place, people, and policy can also tie us down, that we have to find ways to keep dreaming.
“I will always remember when the stars fell down around me and lifted me up above the George Washington Bridge” says Cassie. From Faith Ringgold’s textile dreamland, I will always remember that my fire escape can be my paradise as long as I am dreaming of worlds to come.
Soft/Cover is showing through Aug. 17 at the Fabric Museum. Find out more here.
