Leading Africanist and Robert Farris Thompson mentee Dr. Bárbaro Martínez-Ruiz brings expertise in the cosmology of the BaKongo as illustrated through their ideographic writing systems. His presentation demonstrates that graphic writing functions as multidimensional system of codifying and transmitting knowledge. British artist and scholar Dr. Faisal Abdu’Allah, whose work examines identity and power in the context of the African diaspora, responds through a contemporary artistic lens. Together, they open the inaugural RFTMI session by rethinking how knowledge is encoded, transmitted, and activated across time and media.