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In ‘The Shadows Took Shape’ exhibition catalog essay, Alondra Nelson wrote that “in the zeal for a liberatory detour, Afrofuturism [has come] to be more likely embodied by Sun Ra, George Clinton, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ralph Ellison, and ‘The Brother from Another Planet’” than by women like LaBelle, Ellen Gallagher, Laila Ali, Jewelle Gomez, and Nyota Uhura. [While] queerness (in the broadest sense) of past-future visionaries such as Samuel R. Delany, Octavia E. Butler, and Nalo Hopkinson too often goes unappreciated as a central feature of black futurist aesthetics.
Mark Dery recommends :
“Black in the future : how women in pop are carrying the mantle of afrofuturism”
Whatever Nalo Hopkinson is up to.
Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture, by Ytasha L. Womack (2013).— “a useful introduction for the general reader.”
Octavia’s Brood: Science Fiction Stories from Social Justice Movements, by Walidah Imarisha and Adrienne Maree Brown (2015).
Dark Matter: A Century of Speculative Fiction from the African Diaspora, by Sheree R. Thomas (2000).— “an older title, but more relevant than ever.”
“Afrofuturism/Chicanafuturism: Fictive Kin”, an article by Catherine S. Ramírez (2008). — “the first critical/theoretical foray into the philosophical border zone of the emerging Xicano/a and Latino/a futurismos that are following Afrofuturism’s lead, exploring the politics of science and technology, and representations of science and technology, from a brown perspective”
The “Shadows Took Shape” art exhibition at the Studio Museum of Harlem, in New York (nov 2013 – mar 2014) ;
This brilliant exercise in social critique and the archaeology of ideas by Greg Tate
Artwork :
M.Y. pour B(s)ttF
Mawena Yehouessi
Diplomée de Philosophie puis Gestion de Projets Culturels, Mawena fait ses premières armes dans les milieux de l’art contemporain tout en menant de front divers projets : soirées, édition, collectifs artistiques… Fondatrice et directrice de Black(s) to the Future, son objectif est simple : mettre en lumière la part « afro » du monde et performer le futur. | www.mawenayehouessi.fr // @ma.wena
All the team
