In conjunction with the Textile Society of America’s 2016 Symposium, I was asked to write an article about Textiles and Ports. The below image is the introduction; follow this link for the whole article, which contextualizes my interest in indigo production both historically and in contemporary culture — hence my experiments with growing here in Brooklyn. Central to my initial influences were Karen Hampton’s article, “African American Women: Plantation Textile Production from 1750–1830;†and Malcolm Bailey’s Untitled 1969 painting, which I first saw at the Whitney Museum several years ago.
I’ve since digested other texts, including The Letterbook of Eliza Lucas Pinckney 1739–1762, and Red, White & Black Make Blue: Indigo in the Fabric of Colonial South Carolina Life.
