Memory, (Re)Making, and the Futures of Indigo

Abstract: There is a movement afoot across the Low Country states of Georgia and South Carolina to revive indigo. The use and spirit of this plant—a plant that many people used to believe has magical powers, given the vibrant colors it conjures—is being revived for multiple reasons. The authors participated in this process of rebirth because they were asked to by Maurice Bailey’s mother, Ms. Cornelia Walker Bailey, a griot who fought for Gullah Geechee culture on Sapelo Island until she passed away in 2017. The makers, dyers, textile artists and others interested in the craft of indigo are committed to not only learning and teaching how to cultivate the plant, process and use it to dye textiles, but also to preserve the stories and dreams it has played a role in: the interconnected and interdependent roles of anguish and bliss of the past and the future.