User:Flinders Petrie/Wilfred Rembert

Winfred Rembert is an African-American artist who hand-tools and paints on leather canvases. Rembert grew up in Cuthbert, Georgia, where he spent much of his childhood laboring in the cotton fields. He was arrested during a 1960s civil rights march. As a prisoner, he learned to make tooled-leather wallets and design on leather. Rembert stretches, stains, and etches on leather and creates scenes from the rural Southern town where he was born and raised.

A documentary film about his life, All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert, was released in 2011. It was announced as "Best of Festival" at the Arlington International Film Festival held in Arlington, Massachusetts in October 2012.

Early life
Winfred Rembert was born on November 22, 1945, in Cuthbert, Randolph County, in the US state Georgia. Raised by his great aunt, often called "Mama" after his mother cheated on her husband, he worked in the cotton fields, making as little as 20 cents per day. As a result, he was only able to attend school two days a week (he could not read or write until high school). But with more tension in the racism around his neighborhood, he dopped out of school at the age of 16.

Civil Rights work and Imprisonment
As the Civil Rights Movement in the South gained momentum,

In the summer of 1965, Rembert boarded a bus to Americus (Amazing Grace, 29).

At the close of the demonstration, Rembert was chased down an alleyway by two white men. Fearing for his life, he dove into a parked car and drove off. This resulted in his imprisonment, originally for a period of 27 years.

Artistic Career and Life in Connecticut
Rembert left Georgia in 1969 to work as a longshoreman in Bridgeport, CT.

Documentary and return to Cuthbert.
In 2010, Rembert returned to Cuthbert to exhibition his artwork in the hometown that had been its inspiration. This exhibition was the subject of the documentary film on Rembert.