Songs of Faith

Pages from Faith Ringgold’s We Came to America

Grace Matthews, Faith Ringgold’s longtime assistant, shared the artist’s playlist with us, explaining: “Faith Ringgold grew up in Harlem surrounded by the great masters of art and jazz. Her mother took a very young Faith to see Billie Holiday at the Apollo. Faith’s first husband [Robert Earl Wallace] was a jazz musician, and the only other resident in Faith’s uptown apartment was Dinah Washington. Some days Faith would set the mood for working in her studio with music from this playlist.”

Faith Ringgold. Tar Beach Woodcut. 1993