Olayami Dabls: Absorb, Reflect, Transmit

Among them is Dabls’ book, The Story of Our Rights: How a Nation Moved Toward Social Justice, describing the civil rights movement in poignant text and saturated color blocking, alive with feeling. This work documents a ten-year period during which the United States struggled to protect and establish basic civil liberties across racial barriers. The pursuit of human rights and dignity so eloquently described and portrayed by Dabls through his paintings and text remains sharply relevant today.

Dabls depicts skin in two polarities: white, the reflection of light; and black, light’s absorption. His work explores the arbitrary construct of race based on these qualities of absorption or reflection. The color, movement and texture depicted in the paintings does not extend to the human faces which are shown featureless, in reductive black or white.

Each figure depicted in Dabls’ series has an essential role in this historical process. Each adds a strand to the tapestry of our American story, which includes disturbing scenes of racial violence, as well as scenes of people courageously banding together to challenge structural racism and injustice. All live on, both as a cautionary tale, and as a reminder to actively stand up to hate and engage in current efforts toward racial inclusion and social justice.

Olayami Dabls: Absorb, Reflect, Transmit invites us to reflect on our basic humanity, and on America’s historical struggle to transcend the dictates of race, showing how we can consciously and collectively work together toward common goals by resisting polarity in ways big and small, an endeavor at the heart of the Beacon Projects.

Participants

Featured

Everard Findlay

Everard Findlay blends branding and social innovation to empower CEOs, heads of state, and thought leaders to invest in a future that benefits citizens, the environment, and society as a whole while building profitability and growth.

Findlay has served on the board of GrowNYC, the Council for the Environment of New York City since 2009 and is currently Communications Chair. He is a founding trustee of The Museum of the Courageous, NeueHouse, tenured board member of Soho House, UNDP Turning Tables, Dartmouth College’s Institute for Cross-engagement, The New York Times’ Friends of TimesTalks Committee and The National Center for Children in Poverty.

Olayami Dabls

16 years ago Olayami Dabls came to the corner of Grand River and West Grand Blvd with a vision to create a space for his community to understand the immense power of their African heritage.

Occupying almost an entire city block, the MBAD African Bead Museum houses 18 outdoor installations as well as the African Bead Gallery, N’kisi House, and African Language Wall. Born of his own visual cosmology, Dabls’ MBAD African Bead Museum sparks a vital conversation with global and local audiences.

Peter Cummings

Peter Cummings has been active in real estate development and management since 1975. He is the founder of RAM, a leader in real estate investment, management and development, based in Palm Beach County and active throughout the Southeast. In 2015, he stepped down as chairman of RAM to create The Platform and dedicated the next chapter of his career to helping rebuild the city through creating new housing and retail developments. He was educated at Yale University and the University of Toronto with a Master of English Literature. He has also completed the Owner & President Management Program at the Harvard Business School.

MKR City

MKR City expands the use of the word “Maker” to include individuals working to build their communities and neighborhoods in resourceful and often astonishing ways. From visual artists, to musicians, to barbers, to physicists, to inventive mowers-of-lawns, to homemakers, to city-planners and developers, MKR City exists to connect visionaries in infinite fields, united by the desire to create social, cultural and economic value while fostering the common good.

The Fisher Building

The Fisher Building has been an iconic landmark in Detroit since its completion in 1928. While its significance in Detroit’s history never waned, The Fisher’s position in the city’s growth and real estate market has. Through The Platform’s stewardship— respecting its historic integrity, activating its retail and office spaces, and developing a new brand—the Fisher Building will be the beacon for inclusion and transformation in Detroit.

The Fisher Building has played a seminal role in Detroit’s history. The Fisher was imagined as a building to honor the people of Detroit—an ode to the American work ethic and to American artisans. The Fisher Building is visible from many neighborhoods of Metro Detroit. The reactivation of the arcade will establish this space as the main public gathering area for New Center and beyond, a place for cultural and community programming, fine food and beverage and distinctive retail.

Learn More

Visit everardfindlay.com