mama stella's half features an image of a quilt made by artist Shanequa Gay's great-grandmother, Estella Battle, and great-aunt, Hessie Battle—both seamstresses in the Deep South. Printed on translucent chiffon, the quilt becomes both a visual archive and a spiritual veil.
Each square of fabric once held a life: a Sunday dress, a railroad overall, a singed pajama sleeve. Passed down through bloodlines and memory, these remnants form a map of family, survival, and quiet beauty.
By reimagining the quilt in soft, floating form, the artist transforms an everyday object of warmth into a sacred offering—one that honors the creative labor of Black women, the texture of Southern lineage, and the invisible artistry found in the act of making do.
"What I was calling art as a child, they were calling it living. This is inheritance as an altar. This is remembrance made material.” - Shanequa Gay