Heritage & Healing Experiences for Black Folks

CREATIVE COLLABORATIONS
w/Angela Franklin
Phyllis and Angela smiling and standing side by side, wearing colorful traditional clothing after Angela hosted Phyllis in 2025 for a book talk. Phyllis who is on the left is in a blue outfit with glasses, and Angela is the woman on the right is in a blue and green outfit with a headwrap.
Photo Credit: Laylah Amatullah Barrayn

Multi-Media Textile Artist

We have collaborated with textile and multi-media artist and Cincinnati native Angela Franklin often since we met in 2018. Angela led Xavier University students to create art pieces reflecting their Diasporic Soul heritage and healing experience using found objects, fabric and other materials that the students showcased at the 2019 Universities Study Slavery Symposium.

Additionally, in 2022, Phyllis and Angela collaborated to create a Dak’art OFF exhibit featuring Angela’s works and program that considered Angela’s pieces in relationship to the themes of Phyllis’ book.

And, most recently with the generous support of a Vibrant Arts and Culture grant from the Cincinnati Foundation and in partnership with the YWCA of Hamilton County, Phyllis and Angela co-led Our Soul to Keep, a restoration and healing experience focused on the importance of community and culture to the well-being of Black women. Here, Angela produced The First Step Home to Those Who Know My Name, a commissioned piece inspired by the reflection of program participants, many of whom are active in the area’s Black maternal health community, including Cradle Cincinnati’s Queens Village.