Skirting the Issue

This is a story about a project -- not just any project, but a skirt project. And these skirts are not ordinary skirts: They are political fabrics woven together by history, tradition and culture.

Native Bed-Stuy resident Aisha Cousins first saw the skirts at age 15 while on a visit to Senegal in West Africa.

Women in Senegal wore the colorful printed skirts featuring the faces of people who had emerged at the center of a local cause de célèbre, whether it be a famous birth, a death or a large wedding.

Cousins, an arts educator, soon learned these skirts weren’t worn only in Senegal, but across the continent, the most popular of them featuring each country’s president.

Cousins thought, “Cool. I wish we had a black president in the U.S. that we could honor in that way.”

Almost 15 years later at age 30, Cousins got her wish – a U.S. black president – and soon enough, she began her search for African political fabrics, this time featuring her president, Barack Obama. She searched everywhere. And she found them, in Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, all across Africa, over the Internet and even parts of Harlem.

And that’s how The Story Skirt Project was born.

Through her non-profit, Transmission Completed, cousins secured a grant from The Brooklyn Arts Council to curate The Story Skirt Project, a public art installation of the skirts she had collected since Obama’s election, accompanied by labels that offer a background on each fabric.

At the time of Obama’s election, Cousins was working as an administrator in the education department of the Museum of Modern Art. Prior to that, she was a freelance educator for the South Street Seaport Museum and the New York City Housing Authority. So her artistic focus leaned toward children and education.

 “I used to do murals and I really love public art projects. But after a while, I wanted to do interactive, live projects that could talk back to people,” said Cousins. “Also, I wanted to create a project that would eliminate the sort of issues that sometimes keep poor kids from being able to access art and culture.”

The Story Skirt Project, which launched February 18, is featured in the windows and on the walls of 15 stores up and down Malcolm X Boulevard, from Chauncey to Monroe Streets in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Cousins says the live art project is the largest exhibit of African fabrics printed to commemorate President Obama.

“By putting it in everyday businesses in the neighborhood for free, I was able to bring the history and culture directly to children and the community, eliminating the hassles of things like permission slips, fees and travel.”

“I really like the project, it’s very powerful,” said Omar Diop, owner of , where Diop displays in his window a dress he designed of Cousins’ political fabric. “I think it’s a very powerful thing she is doing because it’s bringing together so many different parts of the African Diaspora.

“Obama is from here, but his family also is from Kenya... the skirts, the fabrics from Africa and people wearing them here, it’s an example of how it all ties back together again-- back to home.”

The Story Skirt Project exhibit concludes on April 15. But Cousins will be holding a final walking tour of her “talking skirts” on Saturday, April 14, from 3:00pm – 4:00pm, beginning at , 302 Malcolm X Blvd. (between Decatur and MacDonough Streets). Also, Catherine McKinley, textiles author, collector of African political fabrics and Fulbright Scholar, will be the guest speaker on the tour.

To register for the free tour, visit www.blackpresidentsday.blogspot.com (click the “events” tab).