I am my Brother’s Keeper

Carolyn Mazloomi, I am my Brother's Keeper, 2016, cotton, India ink, textile paint, cotton thread, and cotton batt, 73 × 61 in. (185.4 × 154.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Carolyn L. Mazloomi, 2023.20.1, © 2024, Carolyn L. Mazloomi

Artwork Details

Title
I am my Brother’s Keeper
Date
2016
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
73 × 61 in. (185.4 × 154.9 cm)
Copyright
© 2024, Carolyn L. Mazloomi
Credit Line
Gift of Carolyn L. Mazloomi
Mediums Description
cotton, India ink, textile paint, cotton thread, and cotton batt
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape
  • Figure group — male
Object Number
2023.20.1

Artwork Description

Carolyn Mazloomi taught herself to quilt in the 1980s. Her quilts often narrate the strength of family in its many expressions. I am my Brother’s Keeper depicts the artist’s young grandchildren. 

As Mazloomi sewed her own story quilts, she also tirelessly expanded the universe of African American quiltmaking. In 1985 she founded the Women of Color Quilters Network to convene and support thousands of fiber artists. Together, Mazloomi’s art and scholarship illuminate the diversity, spirit, and ingenuity of the American quilting tradition. 

Works by this artist (1 item)

John Moll, Women and Birds at Waterfall, 1931, pen and ink, colored pen and ink, and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Herbert Waide Hemphill, Jr. and museum purchase made possible by Ralph Cross Johnson, 1986.65.185
Women and Birds at Waterfall
Date1931
pen and ink, colored pen and ink, and pencil on paper
Not on view

More Artworks from the Collection

William H. Johnson, Farm Sketches, ca. 1940-1941, pen and ink and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Harmon Foundation, 1967.59.520
Farm Sketches
Dateca. 1940-1941
pen and ink and pencil on paper
Not on view
Herman Maril, Houses, 1933, tempera, india ink, conte crayon and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Olin Dows, 1983.90.103
Houses
Date1933
tempera, india ink, conte crayon and pencil on paper
Not on view
Scale drawing for Ripples”, Federal Office Building,…
Date1979
felt-tipped pen and ink and pencil on graph paper
Not on view
Theodore Roszak, The Great Moth, 1955, pen and ink, ink wash, and pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Sara Roby Foundation, 1986.6.73
The Great Moth
Date1955
pen and ink, ink wash, and pencil on paper
Not on view