Missing Witches: Faith Ringgold - Anyone Can Fly

What this episode covers

When I straight up gasped as, for the first time, I saw Faith Ringgold’s absolutely visceral illustrations for Zora’s book The Three Witches, I knew I had to dig a little deeper. Turns out, one of Faith’s most acclaimed works is a series she called Witch Masks. One of her most famous stories is about a little girl who can fly. As far as I know, Faith has never publicly called herself a witch, after all, as her mother reminded her constantly, she is from a good christian home. But this recurring symbolic equation of freedom with flying through the night sky, these Witch drawings and witch masks, coupled with her sigil work and alchemy, subverting traditional symbols and forms, reclaiming and politicizing so-called feminine arts, plus her work as a civil rights and feminist activist, author, educator, and all around magical badass, and I think you’ll agree, the Witch is strong in this one. The Tate Modern called her ‘a rule breaker and a game changer’. She said: I was absolutely taught by my family as a tradition that nobody tells you what you can’t do.