Vinnie Bagwell, the artist

AFRICAN-AMERICAN SURVIVAL, & LIVING

“Deep in the recesses of the consciousness of African-American culture, hidden, is a survival skill fundamental to the experiences of birthing the next generation, protecting the children, and empowering a weakened structure, and the value of their men. Those attributes came from a survival skill set centered upon Life, and what it meant coming through the birth passage, the womb, the Middle Passage, suckling the breasts of the colored mother, the Negro woman, the granddaughters of ex-slaves. The power and ingenuity of her design and the make up of her art lies within the maturity, and the mystique the Black woman, the African-American woman, the Negro, and the colored women who clung to the spiritual roots and religious tenets, as best they could, of Ifá, and the elements of power, war, magic, and the sensuous magic that compelled, renewed, revolted, and repeled in a breath, a glance, or a touch.

Vinnie Bagwell, sculptor, for me, has captured these things in a breath, a look, a pause, and a moment in the twinkle of an eye. These are my words. I am Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories.”