S05 Episode 228 | CATHERINE MCKINLEY, AUTHOR OF THE AFRICAN LOOKBOOK, ON THE DEEP MEANING CONNECTED TO CLOTH, THE POWER OF THE CAMERA AND SEWING MACHINE + RECLAIMING VISUAL NARRATIVES

<p class=""><img src= "https://assets.libsyn.com/secure/show/99761/Catherine-McKinley-Main-yellow-libsyn.jpg" alt="" width="600" height="600" /></p> <p class="">In episode 228, Kestrel welcomes curator and writer Catherine McKinley to the show. The author of <em>Indigo, a journey along the ancient indigo trade routes in West Africa</em>, and <em>The Book of Sarahs, a memoir about growing up Black and Jewish in the 1960s-80s</em>, Catherine has taught creative nonfiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College and Columbia University. Her newest book, <a href= "https://catherinemckinley.net/the-african-lookbook-2/" target= "_blank" rel="noopener"><em>The African Lookbook, A Visual History of 100 Years of African Women</em></a>, draws on her extensive collection of photos to tell a different visual narrative of African women.</p> <h2>“In most of the societies, cloth is just, it’s essential, it’s considered something that contains the human spirit and it’s the layer next to the skin — you know, it has all those meanings. And cloth is essential from what you’re wound in the moment of birth to what you’re wound in at the grave.”<br /> -Catherine McKinley, Writer + Curator</h2> <p class="">On this week’s show, Catherine shares more on what led her to have an interest in writing, cloth, photographs and fashion. Through our conversation, she reminds us of the layers of meaning that can be embedded in cloth - from culture to identity to wealth to power and beyond.</p> <p class="">Catherine also explains more on why she highlights the sewing machine and the camera as the two most important machinery for African women in her book — as she calls them, “steadfast instruments that offered a powerful means to author one’s own life.”</p> <ul> <li> <p class="">”I’m really driven by this idea of holding onto things from the past and things that are disappearing or are ephemeral in some way.” -Catherine</p> </li> <li> <p class=""><a href="http://www.seydoukeitaphotographer.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Seydou Keïta</a>, photographe