Tag: Digital Tribes

CREATION

The wearable afro-cosmology of Selly Raby Kane

A man and woman dance to the hypnotic rhythm of synthesized drums and distorted singing, their stomping feet raising clouds of dust from barren earth, their upper limbs drawing elliptic figures against a backdrop of nebulous galaxies. In this depthless void where stars pulsate from the exposed heart of colored clusters, the lone dancers twist under the invisible pressure of the hammering sound. In gravity-defying gymnastics they move under a fluorescent ray of blue light that beams down from the eye of a nebula. They are being summoned. A ladder appears leading somewhere, nowhere. Is this dystopia or utopia? The scene gives no hint as to its history, whether the characters are welcoming or resisting the call.

Thoughts on the Afrofuturist influence on Afrosartorialism

An article by Laura Havlin that appeared in AnOther Magazine back in September is a good source to get acquainted with the afrofuturist aesthetic and to point to its influence on afrosartorial trends. (N.D.L.R. : This article first appeared on “Afrosartorialism”, Enrica Picarelli’s research blog, on 29 December 2015)

Ousmane Snow, the first black man to enter the French Academy of Fine Arts

“My nomination is even more valuable to me that you always had the wisdom not to establish racial, ethnical or religious quotas to be admitted among you”. Unanimously elected in 2013, the eighty-years-old Senegalese sculptor follows Léopold Sédar Senghor’s footsteps, elected at the French Academy thirty years earlier, and to whom he paid tribute during his enthronement. This event will surely and durably shake-up the African Diaspora: after the constant search for role models, the awareness of a possible future. Oneself.”

Neals Niat : Follow The Story Between The Lines…

“I have been drawing since I was little, it has always been a passion, which since recent years has become something more concrete. As my works are mostly inspired by my childhood in Cameroon and the world surrounding me, it has always seemed obvious to work in black and white, pretty much like VHS : I call it the “Monochromatic Visual Metaphor”. I want to share my cultural wealth through my work in a playful way . “Neals

Art by Krigga : Balance your equations

“My interest in collage really came to be when I immersed myself in studying alchemy. The idea of taking prima materia and transmuting it into something brand new grabbed me. I was always captivated by the collage aesthetic, and it was a natural talent for me. What really moved me was the lack of black faces and bodies in this particular expression. ” Krigga

Winged Horse // CHEVAL AILE

I am telling the story of a lifetime, coming and going between Africa and Europe, between Europe and the world, I am an hybrid, I am the product of a fusion of cultures and identities. But what is hybridation if we think of Pangaea’s principle and of the history of mankind? Can we really define ourselves depending on our origins, color, culture – a culture that keeps evolving with our environment ? Am I African, European? Isn’t the principle of universality more important? This brings us to the one and only essence of our being : humanity.

Firy Horse / Cheval de feu

The hardest thing is not to succeed, it is not even to find the will to succeed. The hardest thing is to be intellegible to yourself, to accept and admit that you can succeed. Find yourself, know yourself, connect to yourself in order to understand and conceive the world. Allowing yourself to be submerged by the euphoria of the impetus to take a step forward, like in a obstacle race. Magnify the ordeal of learning, willing and being courageous, through the elegance of a gesture of transmitting and sharing. And then… listen to your heart, to your inner voice… Isn’t it this intelligence that brings us love, strength, protection, trust and happiness ?

A faint storm // tempête sourde

We are stardust, we are extra beings coming from beyond, brought into the world by Mother Earth. We were however charmed by chaos and forced into virtual exile, we went and conquered the universe. Microcosms inside the macrocosm, we fly away in our spacecraft like comets, propulsed through hyperspace searching for the Matrice, in order to go back to harmony between beings and things. The quest for balance is a hard and infinite task, it is our absolute quest.

a body’s heart // AU COEUR DU CORPS

The clitoris is the one human organ aiming only at pleasure. But what is feminine pleasure and how to access it ? Above all, allow you to have some rights : the right to define yourself in order to free yourself from the psychological and intellectual excision where society emprisons you, from religion and education. The right to achieve a better knowledge and acceptance of the feminine body in its multiplicity, proof of self-esteem and self-love, leading you to a connexion with your inner self, your intimate self, and therefore, with the Other.

Tropical Boreal // BOREALE TROPICALE

Every work of art produced by the human will is a product of dream and imagination. Talent, gift, creativity, work and tenacity transform the chimera into reality. But it is through the conscience of their place and role in the History of Men that Africans and Afro-descendants can take back their dreams and thoughts, conquer, go beyong themselves and project themselves : from fiction to reality, from the Earth to space conquest ! Reconcile science and spirituality…