A body of work by quilt-maker Zak Foster that explores the stories Southern White families tell—and don’t tell—about their own family history
A recreation of a family burial-ground I visited in Laurens, South Carolina in 2019. Here, several of my white ancestors are buried in graves marked with elaborately carved tombstones. Around them are sunken graves marked only with an unhewn rock—likely the burial site of the people enslaved by my family. Outside the walls of this graveyard, there are more sunken graves, which raises the question for me of gate-keeping: who was allowed into the privilege space of my family, and who was kept out? On this quilt, you can see embroidered tombstones of my ancestors, as well as five memorial crosses with the known names of those enslaved by my family.
Approximately 48”x36”
Complete title: “How The Artist Understands Generational Time (As Opposed To Calendar Time With Its Constant Uptick That Makes You Feel Like You’re Actually Getting Somewhere)” The original quilt in this piece was made by my partner’s grandmother for his father when he was a boy. Instead of using traditional cotton batting, she employed an old chenille bedspread whose stitches have worn through her patchwork over the years. I’ve requilted the whole piece with several yards of black silk chiffon mimicking a document-masking effect in order to draw the viewer’s attention to the ongoing effects of decisions made long before we were born.
Approximately 72"”x36” as displayed
An allegory of a snake that whispers Whiteness into the world. It’s written using an ancient pattern of writing called boustrophedon, where instead of starting at the left side of the page, the line picks up directly under where the previous line ends, thus snaking the viewer’s eyes down the text. Made from velour, silk, and microfleece. Text: our children are both with a snake in a crib this guardian serpent whispers silver tongued seeds into the open ears of our children that bloom later in life whispers like all this belongs to you whispers like you have all this because you worked so hard whispers like they don’t work hard like you
Approximately 72”x 55”
Made in the style of Southern Baptist church banners I grew up studying during long sermons, this piece is came to me in a dream: an ancestor handing me a writhing poisonous snake and told me it was the “work of the living” to untangle the injustices of our time.
Approximately 80”x48”
When I first found records that my ancestors had enslaved Black folks in South Carolina and Kentucky, I asked a family member about it. They quickly responded no, and then, after a pause, they insisted that surely we would know if they has enslaved people. It made me wonder how many White folks walk around thinking the same things and spurred this entire collection into being.
Approximately 72” x 72” spread out
Constructed from a garment that easily shows its history. Garment found in the middle of the street in NYC and shows how the past and present co-exist. Text from family letters during the American Civil War.
Approximately 48” x 36”
A fan-style genealogical infographic illustrating how I personally benefit generations later from the wealth my family accrued during slavery
Approximately 40”x40”
Letter to my great-grandfather. Approximately 12” x 8”
Featuring currency-colored bath towels. Explores the intimacy and inescapability of privilege. Work in progress.
Approximately 72” x 60” and 48” x 30”
A quilt that interrogates the mental health of generations of slave-owning ancestors. This piece will be some sort of mobile installation/sculptural piece. Still working out the details.
This is a digital mockup of what would be a looped video projected onto a white quilt bearing a line-drawing self-portrait. The video is a sequence of actual family photos (the first person is my great-grandfather, Alva Bee, mentioned above) and the photos have been AI-enhanced to create this short, life-like vignettes.
Size TBD
TOGETHER FOREVER, a collaborative quilt with my extended family about our inherited wealth
a quilt featuring Tom Bennett Langston: the lone abolitionist in our family
a collaborative quilt with members of my extended black family that we only know about through AncestryDNA
a quilt featuring Mary King, a Black woman who appeared to have had a long-term committed relationship with a White great-uncle of mine
a quilt connecting slave ownership and higher education
a quilt featuring John Avery Foster: first Black deputy sheriff in NC in 1965
a quilt featuring a line from my 5th-great grandfather’s will: the phrase bequeathing slaves to his children, “to him and his heirs forever”, which directly implicates future generations in the fight for racial justice
recreation of the old Stone House an ancestor of mine build designed to withstand defensive attacks from local Saura people in North Carolina