BROOKLYN, N.Y.- A freestanding ten-foot high, five-foot wide sculpture by Xenobia Bailey titled “Mothership 1: Sistah Paradise’s Great Wall of Fire Revival Tent,” will be on view on the fifth floor of the Brooklyn Museum through January 5, 2006. The towering artwork, which is in the form of a cylindrically shaped tent with a conical top, features brightly colored beadwork, crochet, and mixed materials. Reminiscent of the masks of the Dogon people of Africa, it resonates strongly with the Brooklyn Museum’s collection of African art.

Part of Bailey’s project Paradise Under Reconstruction in the Aesthetic of Funk, “Sistah Paradise’s Great Wall of Fire Revival Tent” utilizes techniques that highlight African craft traditions, while also incorporating contemporary symbols. Her inspiration for the piece is derived from a variety of influences, including the lack of historical documentation about the enslavement of Africans in America as well as revival ceremonies at Southern Baptist churches, where the connection to African heritage remains tangible.

A graduate with a degree in Industrial Design of Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York, Bailey has works in the collections of The Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York; and The American Craft Museum, New York; and her works have been featured in exhibitions at several major museums, including the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York; and The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York.