Winfred Rembert - Another Black Voice

We can access his voice through his art, his spoken words, and the words others have written about him.

What he has to say is important. He was born in 1945. He is our contemporary.

Winfred Rembert was introduced to us in the The New Yorker magazine (May 3, 2021). Within the article are examples of his powerful art, bits of information about his life experiences, and a link to a companion New Yorker video.

An Artist on How He Survived the Chain GangYou have to play a role that isn’t really you. It’s like slavery. You have to meet all those demands and keep a sense of yourself as well.

You may go directly to the New Yorker video by clicking above.

Winfred Rembert died in April. Below is a lengthy obituary from the New York Times (April 4, 2021)

A direct link to the obituary is below followed by a PDF.

Winfred Rembert, 75, Dies; Turned Painful Memories Into ArtDecades after nearly being lynched in rural Georgia, he began recreating vivid scenes from his life by carving figures into leather.

Winfred Rembert, 75, Dies; Turned Painful Memories Into Art - The New York Times.pdf

In 2017, Rembert and his wife, Patsy, recorded part of his story for NPR's Story Corps.

It was broadcast on Morning Edition November 15, 2019.

“I Still Wake Up Screaming”: Memories From One of the Only Known Survivors of a LynchingWinfred Rembert, 73, is one of the only people ever known to have survived a lynching. At StoryCorps, he sat down with his wife, Patsy, to remember what he lived through.

Ten years ago a documentary of Rembert's life and art was released.

Available on Amazon

2011 U.S.A./duration 1 hour, 17 min. Winfred Rembert’s indelible images of toiling in the cotton fields, singing in church, dancing in juke joints, or working on a chain gang are especially powerful not just because he lived every moment, but because he experienced so much injustice and bigotry as recently as the 1960s and 1970s. In “All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert,” the artist relives his turbulent life, abundantly visualized by his extensive paintings and, in a series of intimate reminiscences, shows us how even the most painful memories can be transformed into something meaningful and beautiful. Directed and produced by Vivian Ducat.

A very short trailer

All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred RembertAll Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert chronicles the journey of Winfred Rembert, an African American artist who recently had a retrospective in a top-tier Madison Avenue gallery who earlier in his life had served seven years on a chain gang in Georgia

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