Monumentalizing Black resistance by honoring enslaved ancestors Mark, Phillis, and Phebe.

For over a decade, artist Ifé Franklin has been honoring the lives, histories, cultures, and traditions of the African diaspora and the formerly enslaved of North America through her “Indigo Project”. The Resurrection of Mark, Phillis, & Phebe is a sculptural installation inspired by the story of Mark, Phillis, and Phebe– enslaved African Americans in Charlestown who conspired to poison their owner during the colonial period of 18th century Boston.* The Resurrection reimagines the gibbet, a hanging iron cage and Mark’s final resting place, as a floating cocoon wrapped in Nigerian adire, indigo-dyed textiles created using a variety of resist-dye techniques. The jug-like form also alludes to blue bottle trees from the American South, often found near homes and gardens for protection, good luck, and serving as a place for spirits to come into. Similarly, this sculpture is Franklin’s way of creating a respectful and dignified place of rest for the spirits of Mark, Phillis, and Phebe. The sculpture’s circular ground imprint conjures the Kongo cosmogram, a core symbol in the African Bakongo religion that represents the boundaries between the physical and spiritual world as well as the cycles of birth, life, death, and rebirth. The Kongo cosmogram, also called the dikenga, has been found near U.S. plantation cabins and under ceramic colonoware as a way that the enslaved established and kept their beliefs alive in America.

By illuminating the enduring presence of African heritage in Black diasporic culture while recognizing Mark, Phillis, and Phebe’s act of resistance, Franklin sees this artwork as a quilt celebrating the African diaspora’s diversity and resilience. The Resurrection of Mark, Phillis, & Phebe transforms a local story marred by violence, far too common in our nation’s historical landscape, into one that honors legacies of resistance with space for mourning and healing.

*Trigger Warning: After successfully poisoning their enslaver, Captain John Codman, they were discovered by authorities and punished. Mark was hanged and tarred, his body put on display in an iron cage called a gibbet near Charlestown for 20 years; Phillis was burned at the stake; and Phebe was likely transported to the West Indies. The horrific story of Mark, Phillis, and Phebe was first brought to our attention through the research of artist Pamela Council and scholar Dr. Jaimie D. Crumley, Old North Church & Historic Site’s 2022 Research Fellow.