Oba by Rosy Petri

Oba by Rosy Petri, 2023, Mixed Media on canvas, 48 x 24 inches

Oba is a mixed media piece on canvas depicting a sculpture of a king of Benin (called the Oba) seen in a midwestern gallery. While institutions around the globe are beginning to repatriate these artifacts

Diaspora Dreaming: Benin Bronzes

Didactics

After the sacking of the cultural treasures of the kingdom of Benin (present day Nigeria), objects were looted and sold off to museums and collectors by the British as breathtaking examples of artisan metalsmithing. Pieces like these have been spread around the globe, and are only recently being returned by institutions and private collections to ancestral homelands. 

Pieces in the “Diaspora Dreaming: Benin Bronzes” series suggest that  diasporan art is as much about spirituality as it is material culture and record keeping: We can look upon cultural objects as a reminder of history, legacy, and self determination. Even as we walk through a world that does not seem to want us, our arts and treasures have always been in high demand.

Rosy Petri is a self-taught fiber artist fusing printmaking, photography, and multimedia storytelling. Petri creates contemporary iconography seasoned with Black history, music, and culture. Part autobiography, part documentary, the work is about self-discovery, history, and radical Black Joy. It is important for her to acknowledge that her ancestors are the descendants of the survivors of the Middle Passage. Petri’s work is intended to honor the ancestors (known and forgotten) by carrying on cultural traditions as they have manifested in her life. The work is an offering of rhythm, color, and celebration for them. Rosy Petri is a mother, self-taught artist, and storyteller from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her multidisciplinary works fuse fabric portraiture, multimedia storytelling, and illustration as an act of witness. In 2021, Petri served as the inaugural Artist in Residence at the bell hooks center at Berea College. In 2020, she was selected as a Mary L Nohl Emerging Artist Fellow and Mildred L. Harpole Artist of the Year by the City of Milwaukee Arts Board. In 2019, as the 11th Pfister Artist in Residence, Petri created a space to celebrate the creative traditions of the African diaspora. Petri was a Milwaukee Artist Resource Network mentee under artist Della Wells. Petri’s work can be viewed in several prestigious collections, including the Bell Hooks Center at Berea College, the Pfister Hotel, Hunger Task Force, Northwestern Mutual’s Giving Gallery, the African American Chamber of Commerce of Wisconsin, and the Milwaukee County Courthouse.