Gee’s Bend Quilting Community, Alabama, USA
Situated on the banks of the Alabama River, since the early 1800s, this geographically isolated Black settlement has given rise to over five generations of Black American quiltmakers possessing creative talents unparalleled in American art. A tradition passed down from mothers to daughters, aunts to nieces, and nurtured by the area’s quilt making community — continues to this day. The quilts provide outlets for creative expression for Black women living in harsh conditions in the Jim Crow South, as well as utilitarian objects made out of necessity. The creative history of this unique community and its handiwork, starting with the fact of slavery’s enduring legacy — many quiltmakers are direct descendants of the enslaved people forced to labour at the cotton plantation established by enslaver Joseph Gee in 1816.

Raina Lampkins-Fielder, United States / France
Raina Lampkins-Fielder is a Paris based curator and cultural programmer. She currently serves as chief curator for Souls Grown Deep, the Atlanta based non-profit that documents, preserves, and showcases art by African American artists of the American South. Raina Lampkin-Fielder’s distinguished career in major museums, including the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City which mounted the seminal The Quilts of Gee’s Bend exhibition in 2002 and Brooklyn Museum, has now led her to focus on the preservation and presentation of art by African-American artists of the American South. As curator for Souls Grown Deep, Lampkins-Fielder advocates for artistic recognition of Black artists from the American South, promoting visibility, scholarship, and education about their contributions to art history while fostering economic development and racial and social justice in the communities that gave rise to these artists.

Formerly, she was the artistic director of the Mona Bismarck American Center in Paris focusing on 20th century and contemporary American art and the deputy editor of SOME/THINGS Magazine, a bi annual international curated arts and culture journal, and director of arts programming at SOME/THINGS SECRET Gallery in Paris. She was the director of academic advising at Paris College of Art (formerly Parsons Paris School of Art + Design). Previously, she served as Associate Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, overseeing education and public programs.

She has worked for over 25 years in museums and cultural institutions, including the Brooklyn Museum of Art, the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York, and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Raina has curated many exhibitions, served as a juror for artist residency programs, organized and participated in numerous academic conferences and has spoken widely on audience accessibility to the arts in the United States and abroad. Raina has a BA in English from Yale University and an MA in the History of Art from the University of Cambridge, England.

Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers
28 Feb –27 Oct 2025
Gallery 3

The Gee’s Bend Quiltmakers are a group of African American women from a small Alabama community who’s work became symbols of Black empowerment and cultural pride. This stunning collection of textile works celebrates African American culture and heritage. In recent years, the quilts have been shown in art museums and galleries internationally, celebrated for their striking geometric compositions and improvisational approach to shape, texture, and colour.

The Souls Grown Deep (SGD) Foundation & Community Partnership

“My soul has grown deep like the rivers.” – Langston Hughes (1902-1967)

Souls Grown Deep advocates the inclusion of Black artists from the South in the canon of American art history, and fosters economic empowerment, racial and social justice, and educational advancement in the communities that gave rise to these artists. Founded by Atlanta collector William S. Arnett in 2010, Souls Grown Deep derives its name from a 1921 poem by Langston Hughes (1902–1967) titled The Negro Speaks of Rivers, the last line of which is “My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”

Souls Grown Deep stewards the largest and foremost collection of works by Black artists from the Southern United States, originally encompassing some 1,300 works by more than 160 artists, two-thirds of whom are women. To date, more than 500 works from the Foundation’s collection have been acquired by over 40 museums around the world through the Souls Grown Deep Collection Transfer Program. The Foundation advances its mission through collection transfers, exhibitions, education, public programs, and publications.

Souls Grown Deep Community Partnership pursues racial, social, and economic justice by grant-making, values-aligned investments, underwriting projects, advocacy, and forging collaborations with a variety of like-minded civic organizations, businesses, and nonprofits. More details here

Hear Raina Lampkins-Fielder, curator for the Foundation and program officer for the Community Partnership who speaks about the mission and work of the foundation. Watch back here