We Had a Dream: Equality

Susan Lenz

50 x 30 inches

2019

ARTIST STATEMENT

This art quilt pays homage to the thousands of anonymous African Americans who toiled at first in slavery and later in an economically unjust system. They built The White House, US Capitol, and dozens of Southern plantations. They installed water fountains at which they were not allowed to drink, cleaned hotel rooms in which they couldn’t stay, and raised other people’s children who went to better schools than their own. They hoped their work would bring about a better world. Their American Dream was one of equality. To dream in the face of racial adversity is to be a hero.

MATERIALS

Digital images, fabric

Digital printing, hand-quilting