Bisa Butler: Crafting African American stories

The Cultural Frontline

This week, we meet the craft makers and textile artists telling new stories through traditional techniques.

Sewn in brightly coloured thread and African fabrics, artist Bisa Butler’s stunning quilt portraits often focus on unknown African Americans. Creating her quilts from vintage photos found in the American National Archives, she pieces together their stories using carefully chosen textiles. Bisa talks to Chi Chi about her creative process, storytelling through her quilts and the portrait she’d like to stitch next.

When master weaver Porfirio Gutierrez returned home to Mexico after years away, he found the traditional methods he’d grown up with were dying out and he was determined to do something about it. Porfirio Gutierrez tells our reporter Saskia Edwards how he has re-imagined Zapotec rug making to reflect both the ancient and modern world.

South African artist Kimathi Mafafo explains how she uses embroidery to represent traditional women in her series, Voiceless and to empower local women by teaching them her craft.

Plus: has a film, a book or an artwork ever changed the way you see the world? One of Britain’s leading tailors, Sir Paul Smith tells us about an influential painting as he celebrates 50 years in the fashion industry.

Presented by Chi Chi Izundu

(Photo: Bisa Butler. Credit: John Butler, courtesy of Claire Oliver Gallery)