Threads: Three American Stories

Helen Murrell, Justin Woody, and Martin Zeinway weave traditional arts and their African heritage into works that express their American experience and identity. Helen Murrell's exquisitely designed quilts use a thoughtful balance of symbols and pattern to express a single emotion or a more layered story. Justin Woody creates photographic portraits that reference African masks, using a collage of materials inspired by the elder women in his family. In the 1990s, Martin Zeinway was dangerously close to being recruited as a child soldier in Liberia before his mother sent him to live with his Uncle, who was later granted asylum in the US. In his paintings, photographs and fashion designs, Zeinway incorporates traditional Adinkra symbols from Ghana to explore his dual identity as African and American.