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7 Heavens
Sanford Biggers
Contemporary Art
Sanford Biggers explores the rich relationships that quilts hold with memory, storytelling, transgenerational knowledge, and the body, in both historical and contemporary contexts. The artist was inspired by the belief that quilts were used and displayed by nineteenth-century abolitionists to convey coded messages and facilitate passage along the Underground Railroad. The title of the work imbues the tradition of quilt-making with a spiritual connection, referring to understandings of the seven different levels of heaven across many faiths. The spiraling and other linear motifs recall sacred geometry, which ascribes symbolic and otherworldly meanings to certain visual forms.
MEDIUM
Quilt, acrylic, spray paint, fabric, found objects
DATES
2013
DIMENSIONS
92 1/4 × 93 1/2 × 1 in. (234.3 × 237.5 × 2.5 cm)
storage (Handling support size): 96 × 97 × 2 in. (243.8 × 246.4 × 5.1 cm)
mount (with cleat): 93 1/2 × 93 1/2 × 4 in. (237.5 × 237.5 × 10.2 cm) (show scale)
COLLECTIONS
Contemporary Art
ACCESSION NUMBER
2017.49.1
CREDIT LINE
Gift of Sugar Hill Capital Partners
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
CAPTION
Sanford Biggers (American, born 1970). 7 Heavens, 2013. Quilt, acrylic, spray paint, fabric, found objects, 92 1/4 × 93 1/2 × 1 in. (234.3 × 237.5 × 2.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Sugar Hill Capital Partners, 2017.49.1. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 2017.49.1_PS11.jpg)
IMAGE
overall, 2017.49.1_PS11.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2019
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RIGHTS STATEMENT
© artist or artist's estate
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