Darlene R. Taylor

I explore kinship, place, and history in fiction and visual art.  (Re)membering the under-heard and half told histories of everyday Black women centers my practice. Mine is a family of makers, and I learned dressmaking and quilting needlework from my mother and my aunts.  

I call my work Heirlooms because of the handed down, antique and vintage textiles, and sewing traditions I employ to craft these narrative silhouettes. Heirlooms is tradition, memory, and the beauty of Black family life. Heirlooms claims personal memories and assembles visual stories alongside verse and prose. Heirlooms honors ancestors.