U.A.V. (Unidentified Ancestral Vessel) 7845 and Kwaku’s /ɡrās/

text by Marvin Touré

In 2018, I was awarded an FSP Jerome Foundation fellowship to create my first outdoor sculpture, titled Topic 3: Consciousness, at the Franconia Sculpture Park in Shafer, Minnesota. In 2025, I was invited back to imagine new interventions.

U.A.V. (Unidentified Ancestral Vessel) 7845 and Kwaku’s /ɡrās/ are two new site-specific sculptures rooted in the mythologies of West Africa and the American South. They employ material exploration to engage speculative histories and familial stories weathered by time.

U.A.V. (Unidentified Ancestral Vessel) 7845 was inspired by a story I was told about my paternal village of Satama-Sokoro, located in the northern region of Côte d’Ivoire. The tale was of a “witch’s spaceship” that had crashed in the woods. Upon arrival, all that was seen were sticks in the shape of a triangle. Part ruin, part vessel, part ritual transport. As I interpreted this story through the gesture of spatial intervention, I also sought to explore its material composition. I sourced felled tree branches from the site along with discarded wooden orbs from the decommissioned work, Vessel with Orbs by James R. Long. These wooden elements were burned together in a large fire, then reintroduced to the site as part of the new work. Additionally, since concrete construction is the prevailing building material in the surrounding village of the tale, it inspired explorations into iron oxide concrete colorants and casting. Ultimately, I was able to incorporate methods of casting and construction at a scale previously unattainable.

The unexpected result of this funding was that it significantly decreased my production time. This, coupled with on-site construction assistance provided by Franconia, allowed me the capacity to produce a second site-specific work. Kwaku’s /grās/, inspired by Kwaku Anansi, the Akan trickster deity of wisdom and storytelling, was created using reclaimed wooden elements from my previous project and salvaged marble pillars.  Upon my return in 2025, I found the weathered remnants of my decommissioned work: Topic 3: Consciousness. With additional time, I was able to work intuitively through this project and respond to the site and the collected objects. It’s been seven years since my last work at the park, and I was grateful for the opportunity to be asked back with such openness and support.

This project was made possible with support from the Frank-Ratchye Further Fund Grant #2025-067.