Episode 28: Fashion as Wearable Art: Jae Jarrell

Elaine "Jae" Jarell is an artist, fashion designer and one of the co-founders of the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists (AFRICOBRA) best known for her one-of-a-kind pieces during the Black Arts Movement. She used her designs to celebrate Black culture and provide positive imagery of and for African Americans. Listen to her story. Listen to her story and take a look at some of her art pieces below.

Photo from the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.

Jae Jarrell in the Revolutionary Suit

The Urban Wall Suit. Photo from the Brooklyn Museum.

Jae Jarrell in the Urban Wall Suit. Photo from the Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland.

Ebony Family dress. Photo from the Brooklyn Museum.

Sources/Further Reading:

Image Magazine, April 1978 Edition

http://agyu.art/project/jae-jarrell-2/

https://www.mocacleveland.org/jae-jarrell

https://never-the-same.org/interviews/wadsworth-and-jae-jarrell/

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/exhibitions/3300

http://agyu.art/project/jae-jarrell/

https://crystalbridges.org/blog/soul-of-a-nation-jae-and-wadsworth-jarrell-partners-in-life-and-art/

https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/210701

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