Faith Ringgold

Having suffered from asthma during childhood, Faith spent a lot of time with her mother who taught her various art forms during her early childhood, hence the love for art developed.

Post her mother’s death in 1981, she delved into quilting as a tribute to her mother. The tradition of weaving continued from her great grandmother’s (Susie Shannon) time in their family which Faith has kept alive till date.

She got married in 1950 to Robert Earl Wallace who was a jazz pianist. The couple, however, later divorced in 1956. She had two daughters Barbara and Michele from this marriage.

Faith Ringgold was born as Faith Willie Jones on October 8, 1930 in Harlem Hospital in New York City as the youngest child in the Jones family.

Her father Louis Jones was a truck driver while her mother Willi Posey Jones worked as a fashion designer. Her parents managed to earn just enough to meet the basic necessities of their three children.

Faith could not be regular at primary school due to health issues. Being asthmatic, she spent a major part of her childhood in hospitals or at home and during this phase she developed love for drawing.

While in second grade, she became a class artist and one of the favorites of her school principal too. She enrolled in the City College of New York to study art in 1950 wherein she completed her B.S. in 1955 and M.A. in 1959.

Being and an African-American, Faith could not avoid being a victim of racism but her determination and perseverance helped her sustain it too.

Post graduation, Faith worked as an arts faculty in the New York City School, Wagner College and the Bank Street College of Education during 1960 and 1970s.

Faith promoted African art in college and also taught about jewelry, clothing and beadwork.

It was after her post graduation in fine arts in 1961 that she shifted to Europe to learn more about Picasso, Matisse and other artists.

Faith’s inclination towards political issues and women exploitation increased as a result of the Civil Rights Movement.

Her anger was clearly evident in the paintings she made during 1960s like the American People and the mural, The Flag is Bleeding. She also worked on the painting reflecting female rape victims in 1970.

Faith along with some acquaintances has been successful in finding organizations like Women Students and Artists for Black Art Liberation (WSABAL) in 1970, National Black Feminist Organization in 1974, “Where We At” Black Women Artists (a women art collective in New York)

Her involvement is various protests helped her display her work too. She became the first black woman to hold shows single handedly at The Spectrum Gallery in New York in 1967 and 1970.

The Rutgers University (1973) and the Studio Museum in Harlem and the College of Wooster Art Museum (1985) honored her as a subject of 10- year retrospective exhibition and 20 –year retrospective exhibition respectively.

Faith was honored with awards like Simon Guggenheim Foundation Award (1987) and the Moore College of Fine Art’s Honorary Doctorate Award (1986).

Her work has been depicted in various museums all over the world such as Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.