Art by: Stacey Robinson
Concept Art of Wakanda from Marvel Cinematic Universe*
As Kodwo Eshun phrased it in his article “Further Considerations on Afrofuturism” (2003), we need to deepen our Afrofutures toolkit. An Afrofutures toolkit is a manner of thinking “developed for and by Afrodiasporic intellectuals” with the imperative “to code, adopt, adapt, translate, misread, rework, and revise” visions of Black aspiration and imagination.
As the historic Black Panther film set box office records, it simultaneously embodied and problematized our current Black Diasporic and Pan African imagination. With its presentation of Wakanda, the mythical and technologically advanced Black nation untouched by colonization, the Black Panther helped unfurl the long-kept curtain over Afrofuturism and Dark Speculative Futurity. Yet, with an eye both critical and appraising of Utopia, we are left to wonder When is Wakanda?
In early 2000, scholars Kodwo Eshun and Alondra Nelson were some of the first to explore Afrofuturism by characterizing it “as a program for recovering the histories of counter-futures created in a century hostile to Afro-diasporic projection.” (Eshun: 2000). Originally coined by Mark Dery in the early 1990s, Afrofuturism has undergone rapid theoretical expansion in the recent work Afrofuturism 2.0: The Rise of Astro-Blackness.
Afrofuturism 1.0 focused on music, science fiction, and literature; Afrofuturism 2.0 expands the discussion to include religion, architecture, communications, visual art, and philosophy that reflect its current growth as an emerging global Pan African creative phenomenon. As we grapple with turning the abstract into reality, Astro-Blackness refers to when “a person’s Black state of consciousness, released from the confining and crippling slave or colonial mentality, becomes aware of the multitude and varied possibilities and probabilities within the universe” (Rollins 2015). Afrofuturism 2.0 is now characterized by five dimensions: metaphysics, aesthetics, theoretical and applied science, social sciences, and programmatic spaces.
The other component of understanding when Wakanda is, is Dark Speculative Futurity which was defined by Reynaldo Anderson. The concept centers on the emergence and philosophical maturity of non-white people regarding their own agency/significance in relation to humanity or other life forms. This futurity deals with how non-whites forecast phenomena and goals in terms of cultural purpose, principles, effects on global change, technological and social acceleration, ecological processes, and interstellar aspirations.
To add to the conversation, Dr. Lonny Brooks has introduced the concept of Afrofuturetypes, a basis for critiquing images of the future circulating as science fiction capital in popular culture by “hacking” and reimagining them with alternative agents, particularly with Black and other oppressed groups in mind. Black spirituals, rap, and Black musical performances have envisioned the past, present, and future to transform usually ghettoized dystopic spaces into domains of survival, redemption, and openings for imagined futures. Afrofuturetypes guide us in signaling and emphasizing Black futures in process and on the horizon as near to long-term futures.
This exhibition welcomes us to see, hear, and feel Afrofuturism and Wakandan imaginings in their digital splendor. Afrofuturist artists, musicians, and creators contributed digital exhibits of video, visual compositions, podcasts, creative games, and other mixed media.
We are honored to have the following artists contribute their Afrofuturist visions to this unique exhibition and welcome you to take this audiovisual journey with us. These artists include:
Name | Affiliation | Social
Ahmed Best | Afrofuturist Podcast | Twitter: @ahmedbest
Ahmed Best, Adjunct Lecturer at USC School Of Dramatic Arts, Senior Fellow at USC Annenberg school for Communication and Journalism, Host of STAR WARS Jedi Temple Challenge, Host of the Afrofuturist podcast. CEO of BISN Media. Ahmed is a writer, director, producer, actor, musician, host, and futurist. Best was a founding member of the acid jazz group, The Jazzhole, and starred in the Broadway musical Stomp. He then went on to be the first CGI lead character in a motion picture starring as Jar Jar Binks in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith.
Lonny Brooks | California State University | Twitter: @Avilonny
Lonny Brooks is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at California State University, East Bay, where he piloted the integration of futures thinking into the communication curriculum for the last 17 years. Emerging in recent years as a leading voice of Afrofuturism 2.0, Brooks contributes prolifically to journals, conferences, and anthologies on the subject and is co-creator of The Afrofuturist Podcast, alongside Ahmed Best. He is the Co-Designer/Creative Director of the forecasting game design group Afro-Rithms From The Future (www.afrorithms.com), using gaming for imaginative, action-oriented thinking to democratize anti-racist futures.
Nyame Brown | San Francisco | Nyamebrown.com
Nyame Brown is a visual artist born in San Francisco, now living and working in the Bay area. He is an Afrofuturist installation artist working in the media of painting, drawing, and cut paper. Brown’s work addresses the Black imagination as a space for new ways to perceive diaspora not just through unity and similarities but also by looking at the dynamics of difference to further comprehend diaspora. He uses folklore, cultural practices, and symbols from the diaspora to make paintings of contemporary black mythologies.
Alan Clark | Phantom Electrik Comics | Phantomelectrik.com
Alan Clark is your friendly neighborhood supervillain, ontological mechanic, and founder of Phantom Electrik Comics. Phantom Electrik Comics produces what they describe as “the world’s most dangerous comics.” They are a collective of Supervillains with an interest in destroying foes and spreading their syndicate of chaos. They infiltrate the mindscapes of human people to farm out ontological devices in an undiscovered war against a multiverse of foes. Clark is also the co-founder of the ontological weapons lab known as zq287. Clark is further known for his work as the author of the sci-fi soap opera Babylon. Clark studied thermal dynamics and theoretical physics at Georgia State University.
Colin Clouddance | Cape Town Curios | Twitter: @ColinClouddance
Colin Clouddance is a science-fiction, fantasy, and romance author. He is the author of Cape Town Curios, a collection of short stories based in South Africa. The collection began with writing the short story “Free Me!” written to honor Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela during his long illness in 2013. Colin won a place in the 2014 Writivism Class, which included workshops and mentoring, and is meant to encourage African fiction. “Khoisan Horizon” was read live on the former Taxi Radio in Cape Town on September 22, 2014. “Souls Out of Egypt” was originally published as a three-part series with O.T.H.E.R. Science Fiction magazine.
Will Focus | our black web | theonewillfocus.com
Will Focus is a graphic/web designer, illustrator (specializing in Satabu/Mwenaa), and a systems builder with a focus in branding/identity and sustainability. A full-ride Drexel University Engineering Scholar, Focus traversed the fields of mechanical engineering, computer science and visual communications, ultimately focusing on and obtaining his Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. As the owner of Melanating, BlkAlchemy, and co-owner of OurBlackWeb, Focus currently focuses on creating high-impact virtual systems which create an intellectual and financial liberation for people of color.
Eli Kosminsky | Osmo | Twitter: @elikosminsky
Eli Kosminsky, is an educational game designer and developer from Osmo, where he creates applications to teach first-graders math and empathy. He was Director of Boston’s largest group of tabletop game designers, and New England’s largest independent games festival. In collaboration with Dr. Brooks, Eli has organized Afrofuturist game jams and developed physical games for forecasting queer and Afrofuturist stories.
Jahnae Miles | California | Twitter: @naaemile
Senior at California State University, Eastbay majoring in Ethnic Studies with a concentration in Black Studies and minoring in Communications in Multimedia. I have a strong passion for filmmaking and photography and am always open to opportunities that may evolve my knowledge and experience.
Jenell Navarro | California Polytechnic State University | Instagram @jenell78
Cameron Clay| California Polytechnic State University |
Leilani Hemmings Pallay | California Polytechnic State University | Instagram @nani.isabelle
Jenell Navarro received her Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from Claremont Graduate University in 2011. Her expertise and publications fall within the fields of Indigenous Studies and Hip-Hop Studies. Her article titled “Solarize-ing Native Hip-Hop: Native Feminist Land Ethics and Cultural Resistance” looks at the possibilities of Indigenous artists to outline a more holistic and decolonizing land ethic for the twenty-first century and is published in the journal Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society. Additionally, she has worked on the importance of Indigenous language revitalization through the medium of hip-hop.
Stacey Robinson | Harvard | Staceyrobinsonportfolio.tumblr.com
Stacey Robinson: An Arthur Schomburg fellow, Stacey Robinson completed his Master of Fine Arts degree at the University at Buffalo. He is originally from Albany, NY, and graduated from Fayetteville State University with a Bachelor of Arts. His art speculates futures where Black people are free from colonial influences. His recent exhibition Binary ConScience explores the ideas of W. E. B. Du Bois’ “double consciousness” as a Black cultural adaptation and a means of colonial survival. Along with John Jennings, he is part of the collaborative duo Black Kirby, which explores Afro Speculative existence via the aesthetic of Jack Kirby. He recently art-directed Unveiling Visions: the Alchemy of the Black Imagination for the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, NY.
Karen Seneferu | The Black Woman is God 2020 | Instagram: @karen_seneferu
Karen Seneferu is one of the most thought-provoking visual artists of our time. Born and raised in Oakland, California, her childhood was fed by revolutionary politics and the Black Panther Party’s free breakfast program. She earned a B.A. in English from the University of California at Berkeley and has dedicated her life to working as an educator and artivist. Self-taught in her artistic craft, Senefuru is obsessed with gathering information, imagery, and ideas. As a result, her work contains a completeness that belies her brief tenure as a multimedia artist. Using natural and manufactured materials, she boldly examines the ancient and contemporary, turning modern objects into artifacts. This Afrofuturistic aesthetic provides a curative intersection between technological and the spiritual. Senefuru’s work is grounded in the philosophy that space has hidden meaning. Therefore, her work seeks to enter into and transform the meaning of space.
Malik Seneferu | North Richmond | maliksart.com
Malik Seneferu feels it is his duty as a self-taught artist to have an internal dialog with the viewer and, in many cases, their ancestors, where at this point he finds inspiration for artistic expression as well as painting live in public. Fathering his child, serving his community, drumming, martial arts, poetry, philosophy, and ancestral facts (history) all help with the enhancement of his expression to capture the Black experience in America. Seneferu enjoys manipulating dry water-based paints, oil pastels, ink pens, found objects, or assemblage. Book illustrations, portraiture, and public art projects have brought him closer to his community. The purpose of his compositions is to elevate the social, political, environmental, and spiritual issues of people deeply challenged by oppression.
Laura L. Sullivan | University of Memphis | Twitter: @laurasullivan44
Laura L. Sullivan is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication & Film Studies at the University of Memphis. Her research interests include temporality studies, Black feminism, Black geographies, and speculative fiction and media. Laura has published articles in Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, Computers & Composition, and ephemera: theory & politics in organization, as well as in several anthologies, on topics including the politics of the Internet, the film The Watermelon Woman, the politics of gentrification, electronic pedagogy, and the affective dimension of activism. Laura has also been a grassroots organizer in dozens of campaigns of resistance to neoliberal urban policies.
Jason Tester | Institute for the Future | Twitter: @futuretester
Jason Tester is a Research Affiliate at Institute for the Future (IFTF) working as a strategic foresight researcher, facilitator, and speculative designer. Tester holds a Human–Computer Interaction B.S. from Stanford University, and a M.A. from the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy. Recently Tester has launched a collaborative research project at QueerTheFuture.org to understand how the queer lens seen through queer lives can be a powerful perspective for surviving and thriving in the world to come—and a strong foundation for imagining truly transformative alternatives. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the National LGBTQ Task Force.
Shannon “Ziggy” Theus | | Los Angeles | Ziggzaggerz.com
Shannon Theus, a.k.a. ZiggZaggerZ is a transmedia artist and cosplayer. ZiggZaggerZ, the alternate persona of Shannon Theus, is a multidimensional black alien entity who appears in various shapes, dimensions, and media, including performance poetry, cosplay, graphic novels, and science and speculative fiction storytelling. As a photophobe and distanced daughter of Arkestra drummer Sonship Theus, ZiggZaggerZ inhabits a dark universe that eschews the light of the sun and its sons. ZiggZaggerZ, the Bastard, invents black feminist spaces of cosmic solace beyond the patriarchy of Sun Ra. As a professional cosplayer, Shannon Theus debuted on The View with Whoopi Goldberg, performing as Frank Beddor’s Wonderland character Queen of Clubs. She has cosplayed at international comic cons as JetSeer, Uhura, Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Woman, and Catwoman.
Dr. tobias van veen | ReImagining Value Action Lab | tobiascvanveen.ca/
Dr. tobias van veen is an Award-winning photojournalist & broadcaster, critical media theorist, technology arts curator, podcaster & filmmaker. Writing in both arts and academic publications, tobias’ research and teaching address philosophy of race, sound, and technology in critical media theory and diasporic cultural studies. He is a visiting scholar at the ReImagining Value Action Lab (RIVAL), Lakehead University, and a visiting professor in Humanities at Quest University. He has published widely on the ethics and politics of Afrofuturism, posthumanism, speculative race theory, sound/performance studies, and electronic dance music cultures (EDMC). Tobias is co-editor with Reynaldo Anderson of the “Black Lives, Black Politics, Black Futures” special issue of TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies (2018), editor of the Afrofuturism special issue of Dancecult: Journal of Electronic Dance Music Culture (2013), and co-editor with Hillegonda Rietveld of the Journal’s special issue Echoes from the Dub Diaspora (2015). Tobias holds doctorates in Communication Studies and Philosophy from McGill University.
Amos White | Oakland | FB: Amos White Haiku
Founder & CPO at 100K Trees for Humanity. Amos White is a haiku poet and author, producer, director and activist. He is author of “The Sound of the Web: Haiku and Poetry on Facebook and Twitter” (CreateSpace, 2013) and is published in several national and international reviews, journals and anthologies. Amos is Founder and Host of the Heart of the Muse creative’s salon; Executive Producer and Host of Beyond Words: Jazz+Poetry show; Producer, Oakland Haiku and Poetry Festival. He is President of Bay Area Generations literary readings series, a director (board) with the Black Speculative Arts Movement (BSAM), and a member of the Afrosurreal Writers’ Workshop of Oakland, California.
The Fathomers | www.fathomers.org
As a co-producing sponsor of The Afro-Rithms From The Future game and the Afrofuturist podcast, the Fathomers is a creative research institute dedicated to producing sites and encounters that challenge us to live and act differently in the world. They cultivate the ideas of diehard dreamers, commission projects that seem far-fetched, and enlist expansive thinkers across disciplines to redefine the limits of scale, scope and support for artist-led projects. They do this because they value discoveries made absent predetermined outcomes, and we believe in the power of the realized dream as a test site and model for visionary change.
Art by: Tarika Lewis
Note
*Concept Art of Wakanda from Marvel Cinematic Universe image is not going to be used for commercial purposes.
