Join us for the opening reception of Sewn Silences, a solo exhibition by artist Jordan Brown. This compelling collection of textile-based works explores the deep interconnections between text and textile, drawing from historical uses of fabric as a means of storytelling, identity-making, and silent resistance.
Through naturally dyed cloth and a personally devised coded language of symbols, shapes, and colors, Brown stitches cryptic yet poignant messages—part warning, part affirmation—into wearable art. These textiles act as maps, markers, and protective garments, echoing the use of quilts along the Underground Railroad and the layered symbology of traditional West African cloth. The dyes—indigo, logwood, madder root, marigold, and turmeric—are sourced from indigenous practices and carry the weight of colonial histories.
Sewn Silences positions textiles as griots, guides, and silent witnesses—objects that communicate safety, futurity, and freedom without words. In this exhibition, garments become vessels of protection, disguise, and identity on a mythical route toward liberation.
About the Artist:
Jordan Brown (b. 1996, Silver Spring, MD) is a performance and visual artist based in Baltimore, MD. His multidisciplinary practice blends literature, textiles, visual art, and movement to construct self-mythologies. Brown has exhibited with Roots and Culture Contemporary Art Center (Chicago, IL), CulturalDC (Washington, DC), and Gallery T293 (Rome, Italy), with recent performances at The Other Art Fair (Chicago, IL) and Theatre LaChapelle (Montreal, QC). He holds an MFA in Sculpture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
