Kenniese S. Franklin
Award-winning nature artist working in the American South.
Reception Room, 2023
Today I Met the Mothers, 2022
Doorway No. 1 - No. 4, 2021
Inner, 2023
Doorway No. 4 & No. 5, 2021
Meanwhile, On the Westbank
Prepare the Space, 2025
Passage No. 1, 2022
Enter the Vessel, 2025
Passage No. 2, 2022
In An Instant, 2022
Mother Musa, 2022
Mother Musa
Banana Leaf Art by Kenniese S. Franklin
Mother Musa is a collection of sculptures and household objects made from banana fiber. The series investigates the banana tree’s historical and ongoing significance in mythology and ceremony.
Botanically known as Musa, the banana plant is generationally woven through healing arts, ceremonial rites and economic development. Mother Musa braids these histories together, naming the banana plant keeper of ancestral stories.
Today I Met the Mothers
Today I Met The Mothers (2022) is a standing sculpture made from banana fiber hand-harvested in Georgia and Louisiana. The 78-inch sculpture marks the start of a mythological map-making series, born through collaboration between the artist, ancestral guides and the spirit of the banana tree.
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Image by Taylor Simone