Exhibit eyes legacy of Aretha Franklin
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” opens 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 what the museum envisions is a larger, longterm exhibit that would debut late next year or in early 2020. And both could be a proving ground for a permanent museum honoring 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 designed to change and offer surprises over time – much like its subject.
“This mirrors the way she was – keep on adding things to a collection, giving people something different to look forward to – just goes along with who she was as a person,” Owens said. “She just always wanted to change, keep herself relevant.”
In addition to the candy-apple red shoes, the exhibit includes a replica of the matching red dress she wore at the visitation. It features video from various performances and appearances.
Museum officials say the cultural landmark takes great pride in hosting the exhibit, as well as maintaining a connection with Franklin, who died Aug. 16 at 76. The museum says roughly 31,000 people came through to see her during the Aug. 29-30 visitation.
Given how recently she died, museum officials say it was important to capture and present some of those elements “of residual grief and love” for the inaugural exhibit.
“We’re trying to continue from the viewing the emotional experience we witnessed – see the emotional connection people had with the Queen and allow people to feel that,” said George Hamilton, the Wright’s interim CEO.