September 3, 2024
NOLA Artist Constructs Large Wooden Quilt With Debris From Emmett Till’s Chicago Home
Jean-Marcel St. Jacques' wooden quilt will be displayed in the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House museum in 2026.
The latest masterpiece from New Orleans artist Jean-Marcel St. Jacques is a large wooden quilt constructed from preserved bits of Emmett Till’s family home in Woodlawn.
The artwork, which pays homage to the 14-year-old who was lynched by white supremacists in Mississippi over 60 years ago, will be displayed at the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House Museum, the historic Chicago residence of Till, his mother, uncle, and cousins. “This particular [artwork] is about overcoming that grief and focusing on the strength of his mother, his grandmother, who bought the house, and your people that came out here and bought property that became a foundation for folks to establish a Northern presence,” said St. Jacques, according to Book Club Chicago.
The artist, discovered by Blacks in Green Founder Naomi Davis during a NOLA staff retreat, created the quilt from scrap wood and debris from renovations made to the home. The quilt is an extension of African traditions. “This practice I’m doing ain’t nothing new — I’ll blame it on the ancestors,” said St. Jacques, who used nails throughout the piece as a salute to Kongo priests and artists who placed nails in power figures called nkisi nkondi as part of a ritual to settle disputes or punish wrongdoers.
Davis envisions the quilt as a “point of entry” for Woodlawn residents to discover the deep history of their community’s role in Black history. As previously covered by BLACK ENTERPRISE, Till was abducted and lynched by white men in Mississippi in 1955 after he was accused of flirting with a white woman in a grocery store. The 14-year-old was kidnapped and tortured before he was shot in the head and tossed into the Tallahatchie River. His mother allowed the public to see her son’s body during an open-casket funeral, marking a significant moment for the Civil Rights Movement.
Blacks In Green stated that its restoration of Till’s childhood home will welcome the Chicago community into the Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley House, a museum, theater, and heritage hub commemorating the legacy of the Till family. St. Jacques’ quilt, a collaborative project with fellow friend and art professor Michelle Renee Perkins, will be displayed as a “teaching tool” inside the museum. The NOLA artist is working to construct 14 smaller quilts to auction off in support of the museum’s development and honor the ancestral history of sustainability by using materials that are decades old.
The museum is scheduled to open in 2026.
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