Artist Karen E. Griffin (Mid-Continent Public Library)
Artist Karen E. Griffin pays tribute to the life and work of African American journalist and activist Ida B. Wells in her exhibit at Mid-Continent Public Library’s Story Center. Griffin spoke about her textile exhibit at the Center Dec. 9 and discussed the connection between her two creative practices, textile art and storytelling.
Wells (1862-1931) was also a crusader, investor and suffragist, using her skills, voice and platform to increase awareness of the conditions of African Americans living in the post-Civil War South. Suspended on curtain rods, Griffin’s four cotton textile panels of layered geometric patterns honor Wells. Griffin interpreted the historic struggle of people and the accomplishments of Wells through her own autobiographical process of artistic wayfinding.
The artist’s talk provided insight into the thought process, symbolism and history behind Griffin’s work. Griffin referred to her textiles as “she,” acknowledging the identity and voice of each panel as a vessel that conveyed messages and guidance about the form they would ultimately take.
The colors in “I AM BLACK, CREAM and RED” symbolize death, rope and trees used for hanging and “their lifeline sipping into the soil.” “enSLAVED Parade”references Africans in bondage shipped as cargo and led “through a wooden door to an unknown sea.” From the Motherland to a New World fraught with indignity and inhumanity, the soothing comfort of cotton belies the painful generational trauma of our shared history.
The inclusion of fluffy white cotton on a brown stem was a powerful detail. Her grandmother picked cotton, Griffin revealed. The tufts serve as a reminder of the personal, racial, economic and national cost of treating both people and a crop as mere raw material to be harvested and used for gain.
Griffin, a 2023 Englewood Arts Center resident, was recognized as the 2025 individual Artist of the Year by the Missouri Arts Council. She also exhibited work at Englewood Arts in Fall 2024. A gifted certified storyteller, she has performed nationally and internationally.
Griffin “weaves narratives” through fabric and performance, drawing on her upbringing with a seamstress mother who worked in the Garment District for 60 years. Listening to Griffin stitch together her influences, inspiration and life journey as an artist rewards the audience and provides context about her textiles. Her contemporary work continues a long tradition of oral storytelling. Griffin is the griot as messenger and educator, a living newspaper and community resource, enabling audiences to access the experience of others connected across time and through the recognition of a common purpose.
“Ida’s Journey” continues through March 3 at the Story Center within Mid-Continent Public Library’s Woodneath Library Center, 8900 NE Flintlock Rd., Kansas City. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday. Griffin will portray Wells in a performance, “Ida’s Journey in America,” at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 24 at the Center. For more information and registration, visit www.mymcpl.org.
