Heirloom, Carrying Their Stories

Rashad Ali Muhammad

Built from strips of collage, various fabrics, and safety pins, this kimono draws from the AIDS Memorial Quilt without copying its form. Where the quilt lays names flat to be read, this piece is meant to be worn. Each strip carries fragments of protest, grief, and survival, stitched together with raw, unfinished edges because the story isn’t over. An heirloom is usually something precious passed down. Here, the inheritance is the memory of a generation lost to HIV/AIDS, and the responsibility of carrying their stories forward.

Rashad Ali Muhammad is a multidisciplinary artist of the African diaspora, born in Alexandria, Virginia and based in Maryland. His work explores culture, spirituality, identity, and nature, centering ancestral connection, authenticity, and self-love while challenging stereotypes faced by people of color and the queer community. Working across collage, assemblage, video, installation, and textiles, he brings a collagist’s mindset to every medium. A former resident artist at the Torpedo Factory Art Center (2022-2025) and 2023 Art and Peacebuilding Fellow at GMU’s Carter School, he is pursuing an MFA in Studio Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art. His work has been recognized by Contemporary Collage Magazine and featured in the Washington Post, Forbes, and British GQ.