Photography by Madison Cubbs
Aliyah Sarah Joyce Bonnette
My work is heavily influenced by my relationships with my late grandmothers, my ancestors, or my ‘Kindred’ as I call them. I discovered quilting three years ago at age twenty after learning that quilting may have been used in the underground railroad to aid slaves to freedom. When I first told my grandfather about my sewing, I learned he had quilts and fabric from my late grandmother after she passed away. She was a quilter in the 1970s while living in Georgia and learned to sew by watching her own mother. A few days later, my mother and I drove to Georgia and were surprised to find barrels full of my grandmother’s unfinished quilts as well as used and unused fabrics. I was stunned. It was a sign that my grandmothers were alive within me, guiding me all along.
Over time, I have taught myself a process of improvisational quilting to physically connect to my grandmother and the practices of my women ancestors. By incorporating the very fabrics and unfinished quilts she touched and sewed herself, my practice becomes a space to stitch together the stories and memories of black women across generations. My work tells the story of a black woman’s journey to find herself. My figures are representations of me and the women around me. Through them, I construct stories of our own blackness, femininity and sexuality beyond the violence and hyper sexualization that we face as Black women in a colonized world. My Kindred who have lived through slavery and Jim Crow directly aid me in the process of making while simultaneously guiding me on my own path of womanhood. The figures within my work are women living in comfortable environments where they may reveal their authentic self. They are Black women, often partially or fully nude, who take ownership of their bodies and refuse to be controlled by imposed standards of race, gender or sexuality. Guided by the Kindred, both myself and my figures may find our paths to our true selves, imagining who we may have been without the interference of colonization.
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2021 BFA East Carolina University, Greenville, NC.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Heterotopic Home, Spring Break Art Fair, Manhattan, NYC
Personhood, Center for Visual Arts, Greensboro, NC
Presence, Greenhill Center, Greensboro, NC
Fresh Juried Exhibition, Artspace, Raleigh, NC
Creating a Home not an Empire, VAE Raleigh, Raleigh, NC
Beyond the Fray, Artspace, Raleigh NC
Fresh, Artspace, Raleigh NC
Maroon Archive, PopBox Gallery, Durham, NC
What Lies Beneath, 311 Gallery, Raleigh, NC
2021 Soft Coverings Online Show, ArtFizz.com
Sapphic Summer, Chelsea, NYC
Femininity Defined Online Show, Black Girls Who Paint
The Morning After, Brooklyn, NYC
Sex with Me, Brooklyn, NYC
Black Creatives of Pitt County Exhibit, Greenville, NC
2020 Your Seat at the Table, Raleigh, NC
Black Voices Matter, Greenville, NC
Glimpses Of, Greenville, NC
Rhythmic Narrations, Greenville, NC
Teaching Experience
2021-2022 Artspace Summer Arts Instructor, Artspace
2019-2021 Painting and Drawing Teacher, Emerge Gallery
Visiting Artist/Public Lectures
2022 Guest Critic for NC State Final Textile Class Critique.
North Carolina State University
2019 Panel Discussion for The Price Of Everything.
North Carolina Museum of Art
Publications
2022 Observer Online Article
Let’s Talk Durham Online Article article here
Voyage Raleigh Online Article article here
2021 East Carolinian News Paper
Greenville, NC
2019 Artspace August Monthly Newsletter
Raleigh, NC
Feature and Statement
Special Projects
2022 VAE Raleigh Visionary Gala Art Auction Presented by PNC,Raleigh,
2020 Invitation to participate in United Against Racism Mural
City of Greenville, NC
Invitation to instruct Quilting Workshop
Mother Earth Fair News
Awards/Residencies
2022 Bed-Stuy Artist Residency, Brooklyn, NYC
Artspace Regional Emerging Artist Residency
2021 Black Girl Who Paints Award
Caroline Allen Memorial Scholarship
Tran and Marilyn Gordley Scholarship
Paul Hartley Scholarship
Undergraduate Exhibition Award