Kith & Kin: the Quilts of Gee's Bend Exhibition

Image: Essie Bendolp Pettway, courtesy of American Museum And Gardens

Kith & Kin: the Quilts of Gee’s Bend celebrates the extraordinary work of a group of African American women from a remote river island community in Alabama which embodies a 200-year tradition of making quilts that hold both profound artistic and political significance.

With skills and traditions passed down primarily from mother to daughter, the women of Gee’s Bend have created quilts that are renowned for their improvisational style, bold colours, and abstract designs, often compared to modernist art movements like abstract expressionism.

Politically and historically, the quilts reflect resilience and self-sufficiency, as they were born out of necessity in an economically deprived, racially segregated region. The civil rights movement brought attention to these women, who became symbols of Black empowerment and cultural pride.

@geesbendquiltmakers

Co-organised by the Irish Museum of Modern Art/IMMA, Dublin and Souls Grown Deep, USA (a non-profit organisation dedicated to the recognition and empowerment of Black artists from the American South) this is the only showing of the exhibition in the UK.

📍 American Museum and Gardens

Bath

Until 21 June 2026

£17 / Concs

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