In her own words, Aminah Robinson (1940–2015) made it her artistic mission “to celebrate the everyday lives of Black people and their endurance through centuries of injustice.” Aminah Robinson: Journeys Home, a Visual Memoir brings together the artist’s drawings, prints, paintings, textiles, collages, “hogmawg” sculptures, and monumental “RagGonNon” tapestries to create a portrait of her life, the places she traveled, and the communities she called home. The works, drawn from the collection of the Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio, to which the artist bequeathed her estate, including her home studio, mixes narrative, folklore, and history to illustrate the range of Black experiences in America.

The themes presented include:

Childhood Home: Robinson was raised in one of the first federally funded public housing complexes in the United States, Poindexter Village, in Columbus, Ohio. She later moved to the city’s Shepard community, and these neighborhoods became Robinson’s muses. Her multifaceted works portray warm childhood memories, neighborhood characters, as well as struggles of living in a segregated midwestern city as a Black, female artist and single mother.

Ancestral Home: Chronicling her experiences and the lives of those around her, Robinson’s work conjures a broad swath of African American history. Her work traces and imagines her ancestral beginnings in Africa, wending through the Middle Passage to Sapelo Island, Georgia, then on to Ohio as part of the Great Migration.

Spiritual Home: In addition to works that reflect the places she lived, Journeys Home features works inspired by her travels in Africa, the Middle East, and South America. Her intimate portraits, rendered in drawings, paintings, and collage, reflect a sense of spiritual connection with her subjects. Throughout her travels across the globe, Robinson found home with people and communities by recognizing their common struggles and celebrating their universal stories.