7 Heavens
Brooklyn Museum photograph
Object Label
Sanford Biggers explores the rich relationships that quilts hold with memory, storytelling, transgenerational knowledge, and the body, in both historical and contemporary contexts. The artist was inspired by the belief that quilts were used and displayed by nineteenth-century abolitionists to convey coded messages and facilitate passage along the Underground Railroad. The title of the work imbues the tradition of quilt-making with a spiritual connection, referring to understandings of the seven different levels of heaven across many faiths. The spiraling and other linear motifs recall sacred geometry, which ascribes symbolic and otherworldly meanings to certain visual forms.
Caption
Sanford Biggers American, born 1970. 7 Heavens, 2013. Quilt, acrylic, spray paint, fabric, found objects, 92 1/4 × 93 1/2 × 1 in. (234.3 × 237.5 × 2.5 cm) storage (Handling support size): 96 × 97 × 2 in. (243.8 × 246.4 × 5.1 cm) mount (with cleat): 93 1/2 × 93 1/2 × 4 in. (237.5 × 237.5 × 10.2 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Sugar Hill Capital Partners, 2017.49.1. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2017.49.1_PS11.jpg)
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Gallery
Not on view
Collection
Artist
Title
7 Heavens
Date
2013
Medium
Quilt, acrylic, spray paint, fabric, found objects
Classification
Dimensions
92 1/4 × 93 1/2 × 1 in. (234.3 × 237.5 × 2.5 cm) storage (Handling support size): 96 × 97 × 2 in. (243.8 × 246.4 × 5.1 cm) mount (with cleat): 93 1/2 × 93 1/2 × 4 in. (237.5 × 237.5 × 10.2 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Sugar Hill Capital Partners
Accession Number
2017.49.1
Rights
© artist or artist's estate
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