Sonya Clark

cloth

Surrounded by cloth since birth, we understand cloth deeply and instinctively. The strands of fiber that make cloth relate to our own biological structure: hair, veins, and musculature. Cloth patterns and textures evoke help to identify who we are individually and culturally. I claim my place in the craft continuum brought to the Western Hemisphere during the forced migration from Africa. That part of my ancestry came empty-handed but retained a deep understanding of the power of cloth. The ubiquity of fiber extends the work from cultural specificity to universality.

“Her inventive use of forms and bright colors make this work a strong statement of cultural identity.”

—Monica Blackmun Visona, Michael Harris, et al
A History of Art in Africa