Crafted from brass, gold, and semi-precious stones, Douriean Fletcher’s boldly sculptural designs articulate Black identity, embody spiritual meaning, and have helped define cinematic characters and imagined worlds. The exhibition documents and explores how ideas of Afrofuturism materialize in Fletcher’s work, highlighting her research into African and African American jewelry design and efforts to build aesthetic and cultural bridges between Black communities, countries, continents, and histories torn apart by colonialism, slavery, and oppression. Presenting 75 works from the artist’s collection, Douriean Fletcher: Jewelry of the Afrofuture tells the inspiring story of Fletcher’s evolution from self-taught metalsmith to an influential designer whose handmade adornments have shaped memorable aesthetics in contemporary cinema, most notably Marvel Studios’ Black Panther film franchise.
Generous funding was received by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Image: Douriean Fletcher, Messenger Collection, gold and semi-precious stones, c. 2021. Photo: BJ the Photographer/Brittany Houston-Johnson; courtesy of artist.