IFÉ FRANKLIN
Artist and owner of IféArt Franklin uses art as activism—and a way to honor ancestors who forged a path for her to follow. For over 25 years, the Boston-based lesbian artist and teacher has worked in many mediums—including textiles, for which she often employs her masterful, Nigerianrooted adire dying technique. Franklin, who practices a West African religion called Ifá, sees creative self-expression as a form of communion with ancestors. She recently unveiled at Boston’s Franklin Park the fourth installation of her “Indigo Project,” a series of volunteer-constructed wooden slave cabins covered in beautiful handmade indigo fabric. Offered as monuments to the persevering spirits of formerly enslaved Africans and AfricanAmericans, the cabins turn past pain into beautiful art that starts new present-day conversations about history and race. A fifth cabin will be constructed in Mississippi this fall. Franklin also just released her first book, “The Slave Narrative of Willie Mae,” based on her own great-grandmother’s journey from slavery to freedom. Her art inspires.
What exposure did you have to LGBT people growing up? My mother’s friend was totally gay. He was around all the time. I would hear things like “he’s a queen.” I knew he was different from the other men, more effeminate. I’d hear my mother’s friends say things like “bull dyke.” I had no idea what it meant, but I knew they’d say it when a certain type of woman was around. When I was young I knew I liked girls, but I suppressed it. I came out when I realized I didn’t have to. I was a teenager in the ’70s, after the assassination of Dr. King and Malcolm X, the time of Black Power. So even though I was oppressed, I grew up in a culture of revolution, and fighting for what’s right.
Does being LGBT impact your art? I feel like, on a spiritual level, we LGBT people are on a different frequency. It’s like the mediums of art find us. They’re spiritual things: crayons, markers or paint are all things that can take you to another stratosphere. I believe our frequencies are
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38 | BOSTON SPIRIT