Ethel Wright Mohamed (American, 1906 - 1992)
Though she learned to embroider as a child, it wasn’t until she was almost sixty years old that Ethel picked up the needle again and began to create her elaborate “memory pictures.” By then she had raised 8 children and had operated the H. Mohamed Store in Belzoni with her husband (who passed away in 1965). Like her contemporaries Theora Hamblett and Hystercine Rankin, whose narratives incorporated childhood memories, religious themes, and life in Mississippi, Mohamed’s unique style and fantastical storytelling abilities immediately gained her recognition in local – and later national – circles. In 1974 she was commissioned to create a work of art for the Smithsonian Institution’s Festival of American Folklife, and soon after she was honored with an exhibition at the Renwick Gallery. Soon after, she was recognized as one of Mississippi’s leading artists by William Ferris in his 1977 documentary Four Women Artists, and in 1991 she received the Governor’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in the Arts, the state’s highest artistic honor.
On offer is the three paneled series Coming to America, embroidered on linen, 17 x 20 in. each in original mat and frame. Email info@eafineart.com for inquiry and availability.
Coming to America tells an important and relevant story of Lebanese immigration into the United States, adding nuance to the small, yet close-knit, community that has helped shape the cultural narrative of the Southern states.
Looking closely at these panels a whimsical merging of imagination and ancestry takes shape. Mohamed’s husband Hassan is depicted as a pirate crossing the ocean to the United States to bury his treasure and begin a new life.