Krista Franklin

Krista Franklin is an African-American poet and visual artist, whose main artistic focus is collage. Her work, which addresses race, gender, and class issues, combines personal, pop-cultural, and historical imagery.[1]

Early life and education

Franklin is originally from Dayton, Ohio. She received her BA from Kent State University,[1][2] and her MFA in Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago where, in 2013, she wrote her thesis titled The Two Thousand & Thirteen Narrative(s) of Naima Brown[3] that brought to life a girl changeling on the precipice of young adulthood and has received recognition for her work from such prestigious programs as the Arts Incubator[4] at the University of Chicago.[5][1][6] She is based in Chicago, Illinois, where in 2007 she was the recipient of a Chicago Artist Assistance Program Grant for her art book SEED (The Book of Eve), which she says was based upon the dystopic visions of the award-winning African-American science-fiction writer Octavia E. Butler.[7][8][9]

Art

Franklin's artwork includes themes of surrealism and utopic and dystopic visions, with subtexts of black beauty, self-reflection, and the African Diaspora.[10] She has described her approach as both Afro-Futurist and Afro-Surrealist.[11][12] She calls the use of human hair in her art “ideas of the grotesque”[13] that is meant to push the envelope of thought relating to politics, human body, race and gender and states “Inspiration is a myth created to feed the romantic lure around artists and artistry. Art is thinking and labor.” [14]

Her artwork has been featured in the television series Empire.[2] Her collages have also been used on the covers of several poetry collections,[1] including John Murillo’s Up Jumps the Boogie (2010)[15] and Lita Hooper’s Thunder in Her Voice (2010).[16] She has also had her work published in American Studies,[17] Callaloo,[18] and Ecotone.[19]

Regarding her talent in the art of collage, Franklin said, “I learned the art of collage through watching my family make something out of nothing,” she said, “That’s really where my collage aesthetic comes from. It comes from an idea of necessity, you know, how you make something beautiful out of scraps.”[20]

Poetry

Franklin's writing was influenced by the poets of the Black Arts Movement, including Nikki Giovanni and Sonia Sanchez.[1]

Her poetry is included in the anthologies The Bust Guide to the New Girl Order (Penguin Books, 1999)[21] and Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam (Penguin Books, 2001).[22][23] She has had her poetry published in Black Camera.[24] In 2011, she was a featured performer as well as a celebrity judge at the Gypsy Poetry Slam held in Lexington, Kentucky.[25]

Exhibitions

Books

Awards and fellowships

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Profile: Krista Franklin". Poetry Foundation.
  2. 1 2 3 "Afrofuturist Artist Krista Franklin: And, Also, Too". JSTOR Daily. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  3. ↑ "The Body Archive Of Naima Brown". Tumblr.
  4. ↑ "Arts Incubator". University of Chicago.
  5. ↑ "Interdisciplinary Book & Paper Arts, MFA". Columbia College. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  6. ↑ Sabine Quetant (16 April 2015). "8 Afrofuturist Artists You Need To Follow Right Now". Blavity. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Featured Visual Artist". Tidal Basin Press.
  8. ↑ "Chicago Artist Assistance Program Grant". chicagoartistsresource.org.
  9. ↑ "Krista Franklin". Blanc Chicago Art Gallery.
  10. 1 2 "FEATURE: Required Intelligence, Punk Artistry In The Midwest - Krista Franklin". afropunk.com. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  11. ↑ "Sixty Inches From Center » Black To The Future Series: An Interview with Krista Franklin".
  12. ↑ "Art. Krista Franklin. Afrofuturism. Afrosurrealism.". SUPERSELECTED - Black Fashion Magazine Black Models Black Contemporary Artists Art Black Musicians. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  13. ↑ "Krista Franklin and the Grotesque". YouTube.
  14. ↑ "Meet artists Stephen Flemister and Krista Franklin". Rolling Out.
  15. ↑ "Up Jump the Boogie: John Murillo, Martin Espada: 9780981913148: Amazon.com: Books". amazon.com. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  16. ↑ "Thunder in Her Voice by Lita Hooper". willowlit.net. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  17. ↑ Franklin, Krista. "Oshun as Ohio Player(s)". American Studies 52 (4): 253–253. doi:10.1353/ams.2013.0128. ISSN 2153-6856.
  18. ↑ Franklin, Krista. "Ascension: (put your hands in the air)". Callaloo 29 (3): 910–910. doi:10.1353/cal.2006.0142. ISSN 1080-6512.
  19. ↑ Franklin, Krista. "Seven Mixed Medium Collages". Ecotone 3 (2): 44–52. doi:10.1353/ect.2008.0081. ISSN 2165-2651.
  20. ↑ "The Daily Northwestern : NU Arts Night brings Chicago artists to Northwestern". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  21. ↑ "Krista Franklin". poetryfoundation.org. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  22. ↑ "Bum Rush the Page". PenguinRandomhouse.com. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  23. ↑ "Gathering Ground". The University of Michigan Press. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  24. ↑ Sáma, Metta; Thomas, Greg. "Close-Up Gallery: Teza". Black Camera 4 (2). ISSN 1947-4237.
  25. ↑ "Poetry Slam Returns With New Award, Headliner Krista Franklin - UKNow". uky.edu. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  26. ↑ "Bronzeville’s New Blanc Gallery featured by writer Kylie Zane for latest exhibit "Dreams In Jay Z Minor" by Amanda Williams and Krista Franklin - And The Ordinary People Said". chicagonow.com. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  27. ↑ ""Like Water": A Solo Exhibition of Works by Krista Franklin".
  28. ↑ "Krista Franklin’s Like Water exhibit explores female ability to shapeshift". The Chicago Maroon. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  29. ↑ "Face it". daytoncitypaper.com. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
  30. ↑ https://www.eventbrite.com/e/art-party-presents-krista-franklin-heavy-rotation-tickets-20533615597
  31. ↑ "On Blackness Re-imagined: A Performance and Conversation with Krista Franklin and Michael Warr".
  32. ↑ "“Are you ready to alter your destiny?”: Chicago and Afro-Futurism, Part 1 of 2". chicagoartmagazine.com. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  33. ↑ Super User. "Krista Franklin".
  34. ↑ Derricotte, T.; Eady, C.; Dungy, C.T.; (Organization), Cave Canem (2006). Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-06924-8. Retrieved 25 April 2016.

External links

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