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III. Interlude

Ruth Inge Hardison and Hands of Inge












Ruth Inge Hardison (1914–2016) was an American actress, sculptor, and photographer born in Portsmouth, Virginia. She studied music and creative writing at Vasser College. Several of her poems were published in The New York Times. In the 1940s-50s she worked as a photographer producing images of public figures, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Paul Robeson, and Haile Selassie. Hardison’s sculptural production focused largely on black portraiture. In 1963, she began a series of cast iron busts celebrating black achievement which included the likenesses of W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul Robeson, Harriet Tubman, and many others. Her second series, “Ingenious Americans,” focused on black and indigenous inventors. In 1969, she co-founded the Black Academy of Arts and Letters. Her sculpture of Sojourner Truth was presented to Nelson Mandela on behalf of the state of New York. Hardison died in Manhatten in 2016. She was 102.



Founded in 2020, Three Fold is an independent quarterly based in Detroit that presents exploratory points of view on arts, culture, and society in addition to original works in various media, including visual art, literature, film and the performing arts. We solicit and commission contributions from artists, writers, and activists around the world. Three Fold is a publication of Trinosophes Projects, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization located in the historic Eastern Market neighborhood in downtown Detroit. Click here to check out Three Fold’s events page and view a schedule of the publication’s on-site activities.

Three Fold recognizes, supports, and advocates for the sovereignty of Michigan’s twelve federally-recognized Indian nations, for historic Indigenous communities in Michigan, for Indigenous individuals and communities who live here now, and for those who were forcibly removed from their Homelands. We operate on occupied territories called Waawiiyaataanong, named by the Anishinaabeg and including the Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe (Chippewa), Odawa (Ottawa), and Bodewatomi (Potawatomi) peoples. We hold to commit to Indigenous communities in Waawiiyaataanong, their elders, both past and present, and future generations.