This sculpture was made in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2022 from salvaged scrap metal. Afatasi found the bell in a scrap pile and was struck by its unusual form. Other elements followed: butterfly wings cut from another metal piece, a spiral, a row of figures, and an antique key. Each component felt discovered rather than imposed, as if the sculpture was assembling itself through what the material offered.
The work functions as a bell, though its form is unconventional. Light and mobile, it carries the idea of a call: a sounding, a summons, an awakening. The wings extend from the group of figures, suggesting transformation and the possibility of flight.
The piece centers freedom. The key evokes unlocking, release, and the meaning of becoming free. In Montgomery, where the history of slavery remains palpable, Afatasi connects these forms to ancestry and survival. The work reflects on the fact that for many ancestors, death could become the only escape from a brutal world.
Through the bell, wings, figures, spiral, and key, Afatasi creates a meditation on liberation, remembrance, and the enduring human call to be free.
