Sanctuary: A Space For Belonging brings together six paintings from Franklin’s exploration of the inner lives of Africans. Through intimate portraits, rich colour, cultural adornment and dreamlike spaces, the series considers belonging as both an external condition and an inward refuge. Franklin’s figures inhabit moments of stillness, reflection and quiet strength, revealing sanctuary as a space where memory, identity, emotion and selfhood coexist.

“Belonging is not merely a place one enters, but a space one carries within oneself, shaped by memory, culture, imagination and the quiet strength of self-acceptance.”

"Sanctuary: A Space For Belonging" brings together six paintings from Franklin’s portraiture practice, centred on the emotional and psychological lives of Africans. Across the series, the figure becomes more than a subject of representation. Each figure occupies a space of reflection, memory and inwardness, drawing attention to thoughts, emotions and experiences beneath outward composure.

Franklin trusts silence as a form of expression. His subjects are often caught in quiet moments, their lowered gazes, gestures and postures suggesting stories that remain unspoken. Rather than treating stillness as emptiness, he approaches it as a state filled with memory, feeling and possibility.

The idea of sanctuary extends this exploration of interiority. For Franklin, belonging is not only determined by geography, community or cultural identity. It can also be found within the self: in memory, imagination, cultural inheritance and the ability to create an emotional space in which one feels recognised. His figures inhabit environments that hover between physical settings and psychological landscapes. Foliage, flowers, atmospheric backgrounds and shifting fields of colour surround them like extensions of their inner worlds.

Cultural adornment plays an important role. Scarves, Hair, clothing, jewellery and pattern connect the subjects to histories of identity and belonging while affirming their individuality. Franklin considers how Africans navigate inherited traditions, social expectations and personal aspirations. The body becomes both a site of cultural memory and personal agency.

His detailed handling of the figure is contrasted with fluid, atmospheric passages in the surrounding space. Luminous colour, carefully observed light and shadow, and richly rendered surfaces create intimacy while preserving mystery. This balance between specificity and ambiguity allows each portrait to suggest a life that extends beyond the frame.

Together, the six works form a meditation on sanctuary. They consider the possibility of finding refuge in solitude, memory, culture, imagination, and self-acceptance. Franklin’s subjects are not presented simply as figures to be observed, but as individuals possessing complex interior worlds. Their silence becomes presence; their stillness becomes movement inward. Through the series, Franklin asks viewers to consider belonging not merely as a place one enters, but as a space one carries within oneself.