Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso spoke at the opening of the “Brooklyn is Africa” exhibit at Borough Hall on March 8th. The exhibit had a selection of pieces from renowned collector Eric Edwards’ collection of rare and historical African artifacts.
The event also marked significant progress for Brooklyn, as Borough Hall opened its doors to the public after approximately two years without any big gatherings due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.
“We wanted to make sure we did something for Black History Month that was meaningful,” Reynoso said. “Because of the pandemic, at first it didn’t look like that would be possible but with the numbers going down, we were able to rush and make this happen. It’s been great working with Eric and seeing this come together. We also wanted to do something for Women’s History Month and a lot of these pieces are maternal pieces.
“Black women die at nine times the rate of their white counterparts during birthing. And one of my goals is to make Brooklyn the safest place for black women to have babies.”
Reynoso also said that we should expect to see a lot of him and that he has big plans for Brooklyn.
“I’m a big fan of promoting everything Brooklyn and I want everyone to know that Brooklyn is the center of the world,” Reynoso said. There are also a lot of important things I’m going to work on that need to get done including making sure we raise money and NYCHA gets its money, making sure our parks are taken care of, making sure our not-for-profits are taken care of, and of course taking a big role in the fun department by promoting Brooklyn and throwing events.”
I also had the opportunity to speak to Edwards who told me the three themes of the pieces in the art exhibit (awareness, music, and maternity) and talked about his collection. The opening also featured a performance by an authentic African drum group.
“This is just a small sample of the collection that has taken me more than 50 years to amass and has more than 3,000 pieces in it,” Edwards said. “It’s the largest collection of its kind in the United States, if not the world with pieces dating back as far as 4,000 years, and pieces from all 54 countries in Africa.
“We’re planning to open a museum of the contributions of people of African descent to the world and we’re looking to open it up in Brooklyn. The first installation will open at the Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Plaza in July of this year. We were fortunate enough to receive a $1 million grant, allowing us to do this and it’s the first step on the road to developing something that is tremendously important for all people.”
While the exhibit ran from March 8th through March 21st, Edwards plans on continuing to share pieces from his collection in Brooklyn.
“I believe very strongly that everyone should know who you are, and where you come from,” Edwards said. “You should believe in what you can do, and have no excuses to not accomplish your goals, whatever they are, as long as you put in the work and are honest and forthright with all of the people you encounter along the way.”
