Visual art / City history
Olayami Dabls
· artist, storyteller, collector
Detroit artist and collector who founded the MBAD African Bead Museum on Grand River Avenue, known for its striking outdoor installations.
- Also known as
- Dabls
- Detroit years
- 1994–
- Field
- Visual art, City history
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Olayami Dabls is a Detroit artist, storyteller and collector who has explored African material culture for more than five decades. In 1994 he founded what began as an African bead gallery in a corner building on the city's west side, at Grand River Avenue and Vinewood Street. Over the years it grew into the Dabls MBAD African Bead Museum, a campus that combines a museum of beads and artifacts with monumental outdoor art. The surrounding buildings and lots are covered with his installations, including the African Language Wall, whose fragments of mirror, tile, wood and painted symbols turn an ordinary street corner into a large-scale storytelling environment, and the Arts Alley. Like Tyree Guyton's Heidelberg Project on the east side, it transforms neglected urban space into public art, and it has become one of Detroit's most photographed cultural landmarks. The museum also runs educational programs dedicated to preserving and interpreting African material culture.
Highlights
- Founded the MBAD African Bead Museum in 1994
- Created the African Language Wall and other outdoor installations
- More than five decades exploring African material culture
- The site is a well-known stop on Detroit art tours
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Founded · 1994–
Dabls MBAD African Bead Museum
His museum and outdoor art campus at Grand River and Vinewood; the bead gallery opens Monday to Saturday afternoons.