'The Resurrection of Ifé Franklin' Exhibit At Bentley Coming To Close

WALTHAM, MA — An exhibit in Bentley University's RSM Gallery is leaving soon, but there are still a few more chances to see it.

The Resurrection of Ifé Franklin is a solo exhibition of drawings and mixed media sculptures by Ifé Franklin, whose multi-genre artistic practice is inspired by slave narratives, dreams, dance, song and visions. Spirituality, activism, and historical research are all integral to Franklin’s artistic practice.

Ifé Franklin’s Indigo Project has been developed over the last decade to honor the lives, culture and history of formerly enslaved Africans and African Americans, whose labor produced the materials that built the wealth of nations. Community involvement through processions, performances, workshops, and the collaborative construction of life-size replicas of slave cabins are key aspects of the Indigo Project.

The Ancestor Slave Cabin sculptures incorporate Adire fabric: indigo-dyed cotton cloths created through a traditional Yoruba resist dyeing technique to create distinctive blue and white patterns.

The artist will bring Adire panels from her fourth Ancestor Slave Cabin sculpture to create the installation “A Cabin in the Sky” in the center of the RSM Gallery, surrounded by her large Dogon, Sirius B, and Ancestor drawings and conjure bottle sculptures. The drawings and sculpture exemplify the intertwined roles of historical research, spirituality and Afrofuturism within Franklin’s creative practice.

Circle and cross forms figure prominently in the mixed media drawings, references to the Congo Cosmogram; a central symbol in the Bakongo religion that represents the relationship between the spaces and time of the spiritual and physical world.

The drawings play with our geospatial perception, galaxies of white dots and circles are mapped on black ground, woven through line and shape patterns built over color-washed shapes to create environments that oscillate between celestial and cellular.

The pattern language of the drawings is evident on many of the Conjure bottles, these vessels are deeply informed by Nkisi – a term from the Central African Bakongo culture – which refers to a spirit or a physical object believed to be inhabited by a spirit.

Nkisi plays a role in rituals that invoke spiritual power, seek protection or enforce justice. The kinship of spiritual practice and the pursuit of justice is central to Franklin's Indigo Project, honoring the enslaved through love, joy, respect, and remembrance.

The RSM Gallery is located on the main floor of the Bentley University Library , it is Building number 54; its clock tower sets it apart from the other buildings of the upper campus. Park in the La Cava Upper Parking Lot (L5, L6, L7) for best access if driving.

The Gallery is open during Library Hours

Gallery Hours Sun- Thur 10 am – 8 pm Fri- Sat 10 am -6 pm