“JEWELRY OF THE AFROFUTURE” LUNCHEON HONORS DOURIEAN FLETCHER AT MAD
Barbara Tober, Chair Emerita of the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), and Tim Rodgers, the museum’s Director, welcomed guests to a luncheon honoring the new exhibition Douriean Fletcher: Jewelry of the Afrofuture. The event featured a lively discussion with artist Douriean Fletcher, joined by MAD Senior Curator Barbara Paris Gifford and co-curator Sebastian Grant.
“Douriean is the very first jeweler to be recognized by the Motion Picture Costumer Union, a very high honor,” noted Gifford. “Usually when we’re talking about a film, we know the director, the production designer, the costume designer—but we don’t necessarily know about all the craftspeople who make the magic happen. Douriean is one of those people.”
Fletcher shared her vision of Afrofuturism as deeply personal and liberating. “To me, Afrofuturism means putting me—or one who identifies as Black or African—in the middle of their own story,” she explained. “It’s about removing Eurocentric ideals and really centering yourself in your fashion, your decor, your story, your identity, your spiritual beliefs—and finding strength in that.”
Guests viewed the exhibition’s showstopping centerpiece: the ornate breastplate created for Angela Bassett’s Queen Ramonda in Marvel Studios’ Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. “It was important to me to put as many stones on this breastplate as possible,” Fletcher said. “In media, we rarely see Africans wearing their own resources. I wanted to show the beauty of semi-precious stones from Africa—and an African queen adorned in her own.”
Attendees included Carrie Rebora Barratt, Janna Bullock, Sharon Bush, Barbara Cirkva, Machine Dazzle, Layla S. Diba, Helen Drutt, Isabelle Harnoncourt Feigen, Susan Gutfreund, Dr. Bruce C. Horten, LaVon Kellner, Elbrun Kimmelman, Michele Gerber Klein, Thomas Knapp, B. Michael, Nicole Miller, Chris Minev, Tinu Naija, Cheryl R. Riley, Kay Unger, Rolonda Watts, and more.
On view through May 15, 2026, Douriean Fletcher: Jewelry of the Afrofuture features 75 works tracing the artist’s evolution from self-taught metalsmith to an influential designer for Marvel’s Black Panther films. Her sculptural jewelry—crafted from brass, gold, and semi-precious stones—explores Afrofuturism, Black identity, and the intersections of African and African American adornment traditions. The exhibition underscores Fletcher’s belief in art as a bridge connecting communities and histories divided by colonialism and cultural erasure.
For more information, visit madmuseum.org/exhibition/douriean-fletcher.
Photos by Patrick McMullan
