A richly illustrated exploration of Black culture at its most wildly imaginative, artistically ambitious, and politically urgent.
In the Black Fantastic assembles art and imagery from across the African diaspora that embraces the mythic and the speculative. Merging visual elements from folklore, science fiction and spiritual tradition, it brings vividly to life the forces that shape Afrofuturism, the cultural movement that conjures otherworldly visions out of everyday Black experience. In works that span photography, painting, sculpture, cinema, graphic arts, and architecture, In the Black Fantastic shows how speculative fictions in Black art and culture are boldly reimagining perspectives on race, gender, identity, and the body.
Standing apart from Western narratives of progress and modernity--which are premised on the historical subjugation of people of color--In the Black Fantastic explores the ways that Black artists draw inspiration from African-originated myths, beliefs, and knowledge systems, confounding the Western dichotomy between the real and the unreal, the natural and the supernatural. This lavishly illustrated volume, which accompanies a major exhibition at the Hayward Gallery in London, brings together work by such leading artists as Kara Walker, Chris Ofili, and Ellen Gallagher; explores the groundbreaking films Black Panther and Get Out; considers the radical politics of pan-Africanism; and much more. Ralph Rugoff, Director of the Hayward Gallery, contributes a foreword.
Each section--Invocation," "Migration," and "Liberation"--includes an introductory text by volume editor Ekow Eshun. Longer essays by Eshun, Kameelah L. Martin, and Michelle D. Commander take up additional aspects of Afro-futurism.
General Note
Published on the occasion of the exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, London, June 29 - September 18, 2022.
Artists featured: Larry Achiampong, Jim Adams, Djeneba Aduayom, Leonce Raphael Agbodjelou, John Akomfrah, David Alabo, Edgar Arceneaux, Marc Asekhame, Belkis A̤yn, Radcliffe Bailey, Raph︠al Barontini, Beddo, Sanford Biggers, Nuotama Bodomo, Nick Cave, Sedrick Chisom, Jacek Chyrosz, Coldefy, Raffaele Contigiani, Damon Davis, Cristina de Middel, Imani Dennison, Jeff Donaldson, Kimathi Donkor, Aaron Douglas, Edouard Duval-Carrǐ, Curtis Essel, Minnie Evans, Rotimi Fani-Kayode, Ali Fao, Raymond Thomas Farah, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Heinz Fenchel, Ellen Gallagher, Rico Gatson, M̐amouna Guerresi, Prince Gyasi, Lauren Halsey, Allison Janae Hamilton, Thomas Heatherwick, Kiluanji Kia Henda, Kordae Jatafa Henry, David Huffman, Juliana Huxtable, Zas Ieluhee, Alex Jackson, Ayana V. Jackson, Fabiola Jean-Louis, Shintaro Kago, Ǩř Architecture, Black Kirby, Victoria Kovios, Wole Lagunju, Wifredo Lam, Jean Fraṅois Lamoureux, Thomas Leitersdorf, Namsa Leuba, Hew Locke, Michael MacGarry, Gerald Machona, L̐os Mailou Jones, Jean-Louis Marin, Markn, Kerry James Marshall, Moshel Mayer, Mohau Modisakeng, Puleng Mongale, Fabrice Monteiro, Ronald Moody, Kristin-Lee Moolman, Jean-Claude Moschetti, ̐Ada Muluneh, Wangechi Mutu, Gustavo Nazareno, Rashaad Newsome, Daniel Obasi, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Chris Ofili, Ruby Okoro, Rinaldo Olivieri, Yaounď Olu, Zohra Opoku, Tasha Orlova, Frida Orupabo, Gordon Parks, Jordan Peele, James Phillips, Naudline Pierre, Keith Piper, Robert Pruitt, Umar Rashid, Robert Reed, Tabita Rezaire, Stacey Robinson, Athi-Patra Ruga, Stanisław Rymaszewski, Alison Saar, Zina Saro-Wiwa, Ignace Sawadogo, Devan Shimoyama, Yinka Shonibare, Mary Sibande, Lorna Simpson, Cauleen Smith, Tavares Strachan, Mickalene Thomas, Bob Thompson, Wilfred Ukpong, David Uzochukwu, Lina Iris Viktor, William Villalongo, Hannsjṟg Voth, Kara Walker, Gerald Williams, Kandis Williams, Peter Williams, Saya Woolfalk, Alisha B. Wormsley, Zaha Hadid Architects.
Content Note
Foreword / Ralph Rugoff, Hayward Gallery -- Introduction : The art of the Black fantastic -- Invocation : a summoning of spirits -- Extract A : old slavery seen through modern eyes : Octavia E. Butler's Kindred and Haile Gerima's Sankofa / Adriano Elia -- Black feminist voodoo aesthetics, conjure feminism, and the arts / Kameelah L. Martin -- Migration : journeys across sea and space -- Extract B : Afronauts : race in space / W. Ian Bourland -- In populated air : flying Africans, technology, and the future / Michelle D. Commander -- Liberation : dreams of freedom -- Extract C : Afrofutures : Africa and the aesthetics of Black revolution / Tobias Wofford.