Olayami Dabls has worked as a visual story teller using a wide range of materials for more than 45 years. His work uses references from African material culture to tell stories about the human condition. Using iron, rock, wood and mirrors, Dabls found that these four materials are primary building blocks that speak universally to all cultures.
In the years between 1975-1985, Dabls joined the first African American History Museum in the state, and the second in the country, as a curator and artist-in-residence. There, he learned how challenging it was to talk about the civil rights movement, because in talking about emotionally charged history, there is no fixed perspective, only the memories and experiences of millions of individuals. This inspired him to create the African Bead Museum as a space for communal understanding through his own sculptures and his collection of African material culture.
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About Olayami Dabls
Olayami Dabls, the founder and curator of MBAD African Bead Museum and Dabls African Bead Gallery, created the project with the intention to use art for its original purpose in Africa. Instead of using art for entertainment or to make money, he uses art to stimulate emotional and cultural healing.
Dabls set off to see if our planet’s materials really helped the validity of the African ideal when he first created his installation and museum located at Grand River and W. Grand Blvd. in Detroit, Michigan. His purpose as an artist and educator was confirmed when he found that people naturally are drawn to MBAD to see the beacon and explore themselves through the art because they are already attuned to this ancient way of healing. Dabls also has a mural located in Eastern Market representing African women during enslavement and colonization through the use of triangle shapes, depictions of birds, symbols, and cultural materials. An additional mural is located at the intersection of Grand River and Warren with similar cultural materials depicting snakes, which have many symbolic interpretations and are known as the predator without limbs.
During the 1970’s, he began working at the Afro-American Museum which was founded in 1965, and the second African art museum in the country established at the time. Later the name was changed to The African American Museum in 1978 and sometime in the 1990s it was changed to The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. The people he worked with there had the preconception that African masks, textiles, and culture appeared frightening. Dabls had to wonder why a person would be afraid of their own culture, but feel enlightened going down the street to the Detroit Institute of Arts which focuses on European art. This catapulted him into learning as much as he possibly could about African material culture, because he felt it was his responsibility to share this knowledge in order to educate those around him. During this time, the museum world was run and determined by European Museums. In 1994, upon realizing this was indoctrination and colonization of art happening right in front of his eyes, he decided to build a museum that talked about material culture (art) from an African perspective.
The Importance of Material Culture
There is a very direct emotional connection to cultures and relationships, specifically European and African culture. Ancestors shared their culture through proverbs, storytelling and metaphors, and educated themselves by conveying the importance of representing and continuing with material culture, the masks, textiles, beads sculptures , etc. Many people today do not know their culture history, only the interpretation of their story that has been taught to them by the colonizer. In African material culture, such as masks are not made to be beautiful, but to connect with the African subconscious. Realizing this concept sheds light on how traditional material culture information from thousands of years ago, and grants the triggers we need to access that information. For this reason, people from all over the globe gravitate naturally towards MBAD without even knowing the significance of the cultural space. Dabls is a storyteller telling socio-political commentary on events that are curated in the past and his lifetime.
In European museums, they emphasize that the items in the collection are not for sale, only for preservation and exhibition. When Dabls decided to sell and exhibit beads in the same space, it opened his eyes and the eyes of his visitors. In the 1980s, the only time most African people really went to museums was for school field trips. Many didn’t have an understanding of etiquette going into a museum, especially not an accessible one with suggested prices. Having worked in the Charles H. Wright museum for 15 years, he was able to let go of the traditional museum structure, and utilize his understanding of how people work in order to create a concept that allowed them to bring their own ideals about museums and realize he was doing the same thing, but better. Having operated MBAD for 20 years, Dabls doesn’t have a bead exhibit that’s independent of from the gift shop. In fact, many museums have modeled MBAD by prioritizing serving the community, not just the patrons.
Other cultures have communicated in many different ways throughout history, but our African ancestors used material culture to convey information about themselves, their identity, and to send messages for healing and protection. Material culture was used to share stories from the past to the present . It was used to heal, the same way we go to a doctor or psychiatrist today. Cultural materials like masks, textiles, and carvings communicate a very specific message to educate people, relieve stress, and act as medicine.
Today, medicine has evolved into something other than what it was intended for. People use drugs and plant extracts without taking into account the visual and spiritual components of healing; therefore, today’s medicine could be compared to a sugar pill. You can heal people by what you say to them, similar to a placebo effect, but these types of artificial healing will only remedy the surface issue and not the root of the ailment. In Western culture, the title of “Medicine Man” has turned into something considered evil, associated with dark magic, but the way traditional people healed themselves was far more useful than anything we could imagine today. Material Culture (Art) is a part of that healing.
Pertaining to art in today’s society, there are preconceptions that ownership is necessary to get the full experience of the art. This is because Western culture has led us to believe that enjoyment and feeling good is a product of ownership. Traditionally, art was available in the community for all to see and was made to help remedy psychological problems. Parallel to traditional African cultural materials, Dabls knew that the material culture (art) was able to trigger things in people through sight and sound, such as forgotten memories and deep realizations. The average person often can’t even explain the behaviors of the things that motivate or move them and aren’t aware of skills they possess but have never tapped into. In this way, MBAD has acted as a trigger, connecting with people the way nothing ever has before.
Dabls’ MBAD Gallery and Museum validates the way our ancestors used material culture (art) and brings it into the present. You can misdirect someone if you define something as art and they’ve never used it as art in their culture. Material culture (Art) was colonized in America and adopted the European definition of “art”, but not the importance of material culture. By making “fine art”, Europeans stripped away all intention and imagination in the material culture (art) itself. Whereas when people are introduced to material culture, without the preconception of the definition of European “fine art”, then those people suddenly become interested in learning and discovering more about the material and there is the opportunity to have a personal transformative and educational experience. Understanding this illuminates the dilemma of African art entering museums without any attempt to convey true meaning, and (spiritual) Nyama significance of the culture after four hundred years of colonization and enslavement. By raising awareness of these issues through his installation and museum, Dabls fulfills a need in our community to offer a true experience, free of European constructs and manipulation that furthers cultural differences.
About the Installation
Covering two entire city blocks and including 18 installations, “Iron Teaching Rocks How To Rust” is a metaphor that deals with the political and social relationship between African and European over the past five hundred years, using Iron, Rocks, Wood and Mirrors as the subjects.
The inherent healing properties of the specific materials such iron, rocks, wood, mirrors, became the foundation of the installation. After the 60s-70s, the city of Detroit . Ironically, many of the materials left over were iron, rocks, wood, and mirrors. Dabls connects experiences from the past and present, by using these local materials in his installations.
Iron is the most abundant material in the universe. In fact, every person could form a 3” nail made completely out of the iron in their body. Modern man has begun to undermine iron’s significance, but its powers have not been overlooked by African. Discovery of the uses of iron sparked the first industrial revolution in Africa. Iron comes from rocks (iron ore), but the rock cannot rust, and it can’t turn to iron without being processed by heat. When this was first realized, it allowed for the creation of new infrastructures, tools, and many other innovations.
Without the rocks, our Earth could not exist. When Earth was forming the items this big bowl contained other items Specifically because of and because of the heat this mixture became a soup out of this soup algae was created the first form of plant life. the fact that algae and mycelium can grow on rock, which has been an essential part of earth’s evolution. African all have a natural connection with rocks, from admiring and collecting them to the personal connection we have with our birthstones.
The use of mirrors in Dabls’ work holds true energies and distance. Mirrors portray an exact image, free of any distortion. This element of reflection allows us to see things that are in front of us, because you can see what is behind us. Ancestors began to equate this quality to magic, in particular a vortex or portal to elsewhere in the planet or universe. Africans used pieces of mirrors, and placed mirrors on carvings to repel negative energies.
The importance of wood is related to the strength and wisdom of trees. In many ways, trees are more like people than people are. Their ability to communicate with other trees, transform the air, produce fruit, and live extremely long lives are incomparable to any other natural material. Our ancestors used to acknowledge the trees and understood their significance. Incorporating wood into the installation provides a grounding element.
Design Elements of the Installation
The intentionality of design and arrangement are a key element to the project. Lines communicate emotions. You don’t have to have a representational or realistic image to convey an idea. You can use the colors in nature and illuminate the way things naturally are. Dabls has had people visit the installation and cry in emotional response to the way he decided to arrange something. These experiences made him even more careful about how he reacts to and communicates with visitors.
Dabls chose the location of Grand River and W. Grand Boulevard because he understood the importance of sharing such powerful and healing cultural energy in his own community. There were many concerns of vandalism and city art during the time he was beginning to build the installation. A part of the ancestral properties of African cultural art is being able to ask the materials to do things for you, and they will. In the city, there’s an unwritten law that says if you want to keep something, you’d better lock it up and take it inside. Since it was built, no one has destroyed or vandalized the place because it made them feel comfortable and they recognized a personal connection and special communication. Even as vandalism and crime happened in the surrounding buildings and neighborhood, people left his place alone. Over this time, Dabls gained the confidence that what he was doing was not only helping his community, but appealing to all cultures across the planet.
The Significance of Beads
Beads are a great introduction to African materials as culture. Because of his experience educating his colleagues on this topic, Dabls understood that it would be harder to relay the significance of the culture with masks because people misunderstood and associated African masks with fear. Beads serve the same purpose as material culture, without any negative stigma. The goal of MBAD was to build something that others could use as a model for sharing culture. Because he created his project intentionally outside of traditional museum guidelines, he knew he had to build something that could operate even if there was no money coming in. The beads themselves opened his eyes to their universal elements. Most people who first came to see the beads were from the European continent. Their grandparents from the 1800s, utilized and valued beads, but this was forgotten due to the industrial revolution. These visitors were triggered by visiting the museum and they suddenly remembered that ancestral healing. Moved by their experience, they gave money, supported, and helped because the product was universal. No one in the world used as many beads in such abundance to show status, gender, initiation, rites of passage, etc. than Africans.
If you have something that really appeals to the palette of people, especially when it deals with their brain, you don’t have to do a lot. You must simply connect with them and they’ll fill in the details themselves. The way the beads are presented, being able to touch the item, even when they are 200 or 300 years old, really gives people a way to connect deeply with the objects. Whatever intention you put into the bead, that energy will be carried with you. Knowing this makes them a lot more valuable.
Dabls began collecting beads in 1985. As white people began moving out of the city, black people were moving in. With the change of citizenship in Detroit, there were many ideals on the table about what to do to attract more people. He was in attendance of the first African World Festivals in Detroit, attracting people from black backgrounds to this cultural festival focusing on entertainment, food, clothing, etc. Vendors and entertainers brought with them what they could sell, and a popular item was beads. Traders would bring beads and explain the importance of them to those interested in purchasing. Unaware of this, Dabls went straight to a vendor to ask about the sale information of some beads. When the trader stopped to explain the significance and meaning of the beads he was interested in, it opened his eyes to the depth of the pieces. This sparked his journey of becoming a bead collector, buying as many beads as he could during African festivals.
At the time, people wanted bling, not African beads, regardless of their significance and back history. Therefore, at the festivals, beads were a slow seller. Bead traders would be competing to sell the most beads, especially since they didn’t want to travel with them or ship them back to Africa if they couldn't sell. Dabls took advantage of this and bought as many beads as he possibly could. He then began to educate himself on the history of beads over the past 30,000 years. When he decided to open an African Bead Museum in 1994, he began to collect with a purpose. The challenge of this was mostly that people did not know about their own personal history and connection with beads as a culture. Since this time was before accessible internet and cameras, it was difficult to document the beads initially. He demonstrated the first beads he sold himself, and wrote all the information about them. Through educating himself through different literature about the history of beads, he shares his discovery that their true significance over time is very personally representative.
We have been told that who you are is only representative of the experiences you’ve had in your lifetime, not the experiences of your ancestors. Our educational system does not train you to appreciate life on the planet, it teaches you only to get a job. The best vehicle to understand information about yourself and those who have come before you is art. Everything is used to promote someone’s interests, but the true meaning of art is working people everyday by being the catalyst of personal transformation. Therefore, Dabls believes that if you lead by example people will reach truthful conclusions. No matter what way you do this, you will be appealing to the palette of every person on the planet.