“My work is nothing without the foundation and history of my ancestors.”

Originally from North Carolina, Aliyah Bonnette is an improvisational quilter who combines textile manipulation and oil painting to present scenes of Black womanhood and Diasporic identity. "My work is nothing without the foundation and history of my ancestors," she says.

Aliyah began quilting after finding barrels of her late grandmother's unfinished projects from the 1970s. By incorporating the very fabrics her grandmother once touched and sewed, her practice becomes a space to stitch together the stories and memories of Black women across generations, connecting sexuality, femininity, Black identity, and inherited memory in every piece.

Hometown
North Carolina