Marshall’s sculpture is a reference to nkisi nkondi power figures from the Democratic Republic of Congo — sacred objects that have been embedded with nails, mirrors and metal to activate spiritual force. “But here,” Byrd says, “Marshall channels that energy into a contemporary vernacular, embedding the surface with gold chains, text, trinkets and photographic medallions that feature both celebrated and lesser-known Black figures — from U.S. freedom fighters like Sojourner Truth, to ancient Egyptian royalty, to African heads of state.”
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Marshall’s layering of diasporic references — Congo, Egypt, Black America — offers a dense, tactile meditation on ancestral memory. “One of my favorite details about this work is that Marshall introduces new elements each time the sculpture is exhibited,” says Byrd. “In this way, Africa Restored becomes a kind of living archive: open-ended, recursive and always in conversation with the present. ... It’s a piece about form and history, fracture and the possibility of reassembly.”
Africa Restored
Leslie-Anne Mock
Created on May 6, 2025
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Transcript
Marshall’s sculpture is a reference to nkisi nkondi power figures from the Democratic Republic of Congo — sacred objects that have been embedded with nails, mirrors and metal to activate spiritual force. “But here,” Byrd says, “Marshall channels that energy into a contemporary vernacular, embedding the surface with gold chains, text, trinkets and photographic medallions that feature both celebrated and lesser-known Black figures — from U.S. freedom fighters like Sojourner Truth, to ancient Egyptian royalty, to African heads of state.”
Read More
Marshall’s layering of diasporic references — Congo, Egypt, Black America — offers a dense, tactile meditation on ancestral memory. “One of my favorite details about this work is that Marshall introduces new elements each time the sculpture is exhibited,” says Byrd. “In this way, Africa Restored becomes a kind of living archive: open-ended, recursive and always in conversation with the present. ... It’s a piece about form and history, fracture and the possibility of reassembly.”