Presence builds for African art
Local exhibits help raise profile of works
For Rawlvan Bennett, a desire to connect with his roots was sparked by a solitary African mask, seen in an art-gallery window.
“I believe that mask was part of a journey to find my relatives, my family,” said Bennett, who today owns the Bronze Kingdom gallery-museum near Orlando International Airport. “I knew I was African-American because people told me that, but I didn’t know much about Africa. My great-grandparents were slaves but I knew that’s not where my story began. My story began across the water.”
As Black History Month is observed each February throughout the United States, teachers devise lesson plans around notable African-Americans and special events provide opportunities to reflect on the black experience. With its combination of beauty and history, art provides a tangible link to that past.
“Collectors in museums in the last 20 or 30 years have been much more interested in the context of the artwork and what it meant to its culture,” said Hansen Mulford, curator at Orlando Museum of Art. The Loch Haven Park institution, north of downtown, has an African collection focused on “objects of adornment” — necklaces, headdresses, textiles and other decorative items.
“Most of the work was made
in the 20th century for traditional or ceremonial purposes,” Mulford said of the museum’s pieces. “These are objects that tell people who the wearer is and what they’ve achieved.”
Bennett’s passion for African art kept growing. From the solitary mask, he amassed a collection of more than 2,000 works. In 2017, he opened Bronze Kingdom, partly out of a desire to educate and partly out of necessity.
“I used to display 80 or so pieces in my house, which became a bit much,” said Bennett, a technology executive based in Orlando, during a media tour of Bronze Kingdom after its opening. “I would always say, ‘This is the last one.’ ”
Bennett first saw the bronze statues that give his gallery its name while living in South Africa. He was amazed: “No one told me Africans were doing this kind of work.”
He was especially interested in culturally significant pieces still used by Africans, as opposed to artwork created for tourists. He sent collectors to remote villages to see if any such works could be obtained.
At first there wasn’t much interest.
“Six months went by, a year, nothing,” he said. “No one was willing to talk.”
Then a storm washed out a bridge in a village in Cameroon, and Bennett had an idea.
“I built the bridge,” he said. “The Njimom Collection was my reward.”
That collection contains festive masks, pots decorated with leopards and statues of royalty. The exchange also opened doors to other African communities.
“The word got out,” Bennett said. “This crazy American will help you.”
Bronze Kingdom joins Orlando’s Three Masks, located west of downtown, on Central Florida’s African art scene. Owned by Timothy Babatunde Adebule, a London native with Nigerian parents, Three Masks offers objects from Gabon, Nigeria, Ghana and Angola, among others. Items are decorative, such as statues, or practical, such as handcrafted sandals.
The venue also serves as a community gathering space, with a monthly art show and sale, along with other events.
Galleries such as Three Masks and Bronze Kingdom are important in raising the profile of African art, which hasn’t always been explored with the depth shown to European work.
“The history of African arts has been marginalized and dismissed by European art experts. You hear words like ‘primitive’ and ‘savage,’” said Philip Ringler, an Orlando-based curator who helped launch Bronze Kingdom.
As African art becomes more available to the public, there’s an opportunity to learn about the world around us, Ringler said.
“What we’re doing here is talking about the African people themselves. We’re talking about cultures that still exist,” he said. “This isn’t just written in the past.”