- Created by
- Ringgold, Faith, American, 1930 - 2024
- Date
- 2004
- Medium
- ink on paper
- Dimensions
- H x W: 28 1/2 × 22 1/4 in. (72.4 × 56.5 cm)
- Caption
- Faith Ringgold is an American painter, writer, mixed media sculptor, and performance artist best known for her narrative compositions painted on fabric. This print, Mama Can Sing, is a companion to Papa Can Blow (2003). Both prints are based upon Ringgold's “story quilt” series devoted to the African American jazz scene, Jazz Stories: Mama Can Sing, Papa Can Blow.
- Description
- A color lithograph depicting a woman singing. Outlined in blue and metallic gold against black, she wears a blue and gold striped dress and spreads her arms wide, her face tilted back, and her purple lips open in song. There are blue accent shapes behind her and, in the space between her arms and her body, the words “MAMA CAN SING.” In the margin just below the image, handwritten in graphite is the edition [AP 8/20], the title [Mama Can Sing] and the artist’s signature [Faith Ringgold 12/11/04].
- Classification
- Visual Arts
- Type
- screen prints
- portraits
- Credit Line
- Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Juanita and Melvin Hardy
- Object number
- 2020.58.5
- Restrictions & Rights
- © Faith Ringgold 2004
- Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.




