ORLANDO, Fla. – One man's love for Africa has transcended his own passion for African art and now, thanks to him, a big part of the continent's story is right here in the Central Florida community.
Two years ago, Rawlvan Bennett brought more than 2,000 pieces of African tribal art to a gallery inside Fashion Square mall.
Statues and sculptures give us a look into cultures and traditions from Nigeria, Cameroon, Mali and several other African countries.
"We call ourselves African-Americans but we truly don't know that much about Africa," Bennett said. "I wanted to change that."
Thirty-nine years ago, Bennett was intrigued by an African mask that he saw at a gallery in Los Angeles. His love for that piece led to a journey through Africa, where he connected with tribes learning about their art.
"I never planned to do this. This wasn't something that I said, 'One day I'll open a gallery,'" Bennett said.
Now more than 2,000 African sculptures, thrones and statues are displayed inside fashion square mall in Orlando. Most of the pieces were purchased by Bennett while living in Africa, others were given to him in exchange for his contributions to building roads, bridges and hospitals in African villages. They're primarily made out of bronze and wood, except for a throne display made with thousands of colorful beads.
"This would be like the king of the kings and so there are only two of these outside of the country," Bennett said pointing to items in the gallery. "The other ones in Germany and we have the one here."
Some pieces are more than 300 hundred years old, including a statue of a famous king from Cameroon. Each creation means something.
"You just won a battle or you've been just coroneted a new King and you wanted to record it for history, you would have the caster come in and cast one of these alabaster (pots)," Bennett said, showing off another historical piece called a dowry pot.
Another piece Bennett has on display is about 400 years old, which is the oldest in the collection.
"This would've been something that the king would've had cast for his daughter and they would've put her items that would go with it when she got married," Bennett explained.
The gallery also has an area that depicts one of the most notable time of African history.Â
"These are slaves in Nigeria, these are slaves from Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and what you see is no matter what country that the slaves were being depicted from, they're all in the same condition, they were all bound the same. Although slavery is a part of our history, it's not the beginning of our story" Bennett said.
State Rep. Geraldine Thompson visited the gallery for the first time after finding out more about her heritage and African connection.
"To have Africa brought here in terms of the masks and the statues and the carvings and the tradition, will educate people and allow them to better appreciate that their history does not start in America with slavery, it starts with the kingdoms and the kings and the queens of Africa," Thompson said.
The Bronze Kingdom African gallery is open every day, located inside Fashion Square Mall in Orlando.Â
For more information, visit bronzekingdom.com.