Maria came back from Gee’s Bend a month ago, and her work has changed, she is trying all kinds of new things on different materials in different forms. Today she produced one of her first pieces of linen art, she calls it “Achieving Myself” and you can see it more clearly on her website when she puts it up for sale this afternoon (yes, I have scooped her again) if she decides to sell it. It was partially inspired by the Mary Ann Pettway of the Gee’s Bend quilters who talked with Maria about opening up to different forms – this is an old piece of linen from the 1940’s or 1950’s. Also by an interview she heard with some civil rights leaders who were trained in patience and non-violence during the civil rights movement, they talked to their followers about “achieving ourselves,” a powerful term.

True creativity is a never-ending evolution, we do it one way today, another tomorrow, we use one kind of fabric, then we re-think what fabric is and means. Photography is like that also, we pass by something 1,000 times, and suddenly it is a photograph of meaning.

You can see her work here. Achieve yourself.