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This powerful exhibition features mixed-media fiber works by acclaimed artists from across the U.S., honoring African water spirits and goddesses as mermaids. Drawing on traditions from West Africa to the Americas, the show explores the enduring presence of Black mermaids in folklore, spirituality, and cultural memory. Each artwork tells a story—blending history, myth, and imagination to celebrate ancestral strength and creativity.
The fiber art in Celebrating Black Mermaids functions as modern-day griot—visual storytelling rich in symbolism and emotion. Each piece becomes a vessel for ancestral memory, weaving together threads of identity, survival, reverence, and transformation.
About the Curator
Torreah “Cookie” Washington is a fourth-generation needleworker and Charleston-based fiber artist known for her narrative art quilts that honor the Divine Feminine and African ancestral heritage. Born in Rabat, Morocco, and self-taught in quilting, she carries forward the legacy of the women in her family—seamstresses, designers, and tailors—while forging her own path in textile-based art.
For over 16 years, she has curated the African American Fiber Arts Exhibit for the North Charleston Arts Festival, helping the exhibition grow into a traveling showcase across the South. Cookie’s work is griot in spirit, using fabric, form, and storytelling to inspire emotional connection, cultural reflection, and social dialogue. She also teaches in underserved communities, gives school lectures, and donates quilts to support the unhoused.
One of her proudest honors was being chosen as one of 44 Master Art Quilters to create a quilt in celebration of President Barack Obama’s 2009 inauguration. Her work has been featured in several documentaries, including Skin Quilt and The Wayshowers, for which she served as executive producer.