Franklin exhibit opens in Detroit

DETROIT — The Detroit museum that hosted Aretha Franklin’s public visitations after her death is again holding space for her — this time with an exhibit featuring photographs, videos and the red shoes she wore at the first funeral viewing that drew global attention.

Billed as a “tribute to the Queen of Soul,” “THINK” opened to the public Tuesday at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History and runs until Jan. 21, Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

The show is a prelude to what the museum envisions is a larger, long-term exhibit that would debut late next year or in early 2020. And both could be a proving ground for a permanent museum honouring Franklin and her family.

“My aunt used to always talk about having a Franklin family museum,” Franklin’s niece, Sabrina Owens, told the Associated Press. “That’s not on the immediate horizon, but I thought this would be a good start to it.”

The first show aims to capture and celebrate Franklin’s life in an intimate space that’s designed to change and offer surprises over time — much as its subject did.

In addition to the candyapple red shoes, the exhibit includes a replica of the matching red dress she wore at the visitation. It also features video from various performances and appearances.

The images and artifacts span her life — among them a photo of her birth home in Memphis, Tennessee, and a framed copy of the first record she cut in her longtime home of Detroit.