As part of the 2024 AA Summer School unit Carpets, students explored the contested legacy of the Benin Bronzes and the colonial violence embedded in their displacement. Using archival materials, historical research, and representational strategies, the group challenged the static museum display of these looted artifacts—reframing them not as a collective monument, but as individual objects rich with cultural specificity and ceremonial meaning. The final work, compiled into a research booklet titled Breakingthe Grid, exposes the colonial curatorial frameworks that obscure the history of the 1897 Benin Expedition and highlights the power of design in reconstructing historical narratives through visual storytelling.

‍