Xenobia Bailey
Vibration & Frequency Experiment
Funktional Material Culture Design Lab
Funktional Material Culture Design Lab
A stretch of magenta underlays an iterative pattern of images. Some include portraiture photographs of black people. In one: a gold loop earring centers a feminine figure whose afro, cheek, and shoulder also frame the portrait. In another, dreadlocks of differing lengths cascade vertically and horizontally atop a second figure’s head. In a third image, a bright pink flower and gauge earring adorn the sideways portrait of another feminine figure who glances upwards. Under each image, a light purple color encircles and highlights the regal and quiet of composure of each subject.
This art – wallpaper by Xenobia Bailey – begins to answer the question: what does it feel like to be surrounded by blackness? That blackness includes these stylized images of black people, as well as other representations, such of ram sculptures, that also re-occur across the wallpaper. Bailey, a Seattle-based artist trained in ethnomusicology and known for a “cosmic-funk” aesthetic, has long made work committed to the haptic, or to touch. From vibrant, swirled-colored crocheted hats and mandalas, to stylized black doll ensembles that evoke scenes of support and joy, Bailey’s work makes exuberant worlds and experiences to sit with feelings of being with, and being surrounded by, black people. In the Central District, in Seattle, and across the United States, black people continue to be displaced and not attended to with care and with feeling. In this wallpaper, Bailey invites us to consider how we might feel, support, and be with the worlds and feelings of black people.
-Jasmine Mahmoud for Wa Na Wari Gallery Guide
This art – wallpaper by Xenobia Bailey – begins to answer the question: what does it feel like to be surrounded by blackness? That blackness includes these stylized images of black people, as well as other representations, such of ram sculptures, that also re-occur across the wallpaper. Bailey, a Seattle-based artist trained in ethnomusicology and known for a “cosmic-funk” aesthetic, has long made work committed to the haptic, or to touch. From vibrant, swirled-colored crocheted hats and mandalas, to stylized black doll ensembles that evoke scenes of support and joy, Bailey’s work makes exuberant worlds and experiences to sit with feelings of being with, and being surrounded by, black people. In the Central District, in Seattle, and across the United States, black people continue to be displaced and not attended to with care and with feeling. In this wallpaper, Bailey invites us to consider how we might feel, support, and be with the worlds and feelings of black people.
-Jasmine Mahmoud for Wa Na Wari Gallery Guide
Xenobia Bailey studied ethnomusicology at the University of Washington, it was there that her interest in craftsmanship and fabric took full bloom. She worked as a costume designer for the renowned African-American community theater, Black Arts West, until her acceptance into Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1974. She received her BA in industrial design while she learned to crochet under needle artist, Bernadette Sonona, after which she began to create and sell colorful crocheted hats inspired by distinctly African-American patterns, themes and hairstyles.
Bailey is best known for her eclectic crochet hats and large scale crochet mandalas, consisting of colorful concentric circles and repeating patterns. Her pieces are often connected to her ongoing project "Paradise Under Reconstruction in the Aesthetic of Funk". Her designs draw influences from in Africa, China, and Native American and Eastern philosophies, with undertones of the 1970's funk aesthetic. Her hats have been featured in United Colors of Beneton Ads, on The Cosby Show, and in the Spike Lee film Do the Right Thing (worn by Samuel L. Jackson as DJ Mister Señor Love Daddy).
Bailey has been artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation in New York City. Her work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Jersey City Museum, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Her work is in the permanent collections at Harlem's Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Allentown Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Arts, and the Museum of Arts and Design.
Bailey has been artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation in New York City. Her work has been exhibited at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Jersey City Museum, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Her work is in the permanent collections at Harlem's Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, the Allentown Art Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Arts, and the Museum of Arts and Design.
