Do you like to get inspired by utopian ideas of tomorrow?
Do you enjoy reading Sci-Fi and Comics or are you into art?
Do you want to decolonize your brain?
You answered one or more questions with “yes”?
Then welcome to Afrofuturism, where the one-sided views on the worlds past,
present and future are challenged.
The term “Afrofuturism” was coined by Mark Dery in 1994 to describe an
underlying theme in Afroamerican contributions to art and literature and is,
regarding to the Oxfords learner’s dictionary, a „movement in literature, art,
etc. that includes black history and culture within science fiction and
futuristic themes.“ (https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/afrofuturism)
Even if you stick to that brief definition alone, it is extremely interesting
to dive into the wide range of incredibly talented artists, who fall into the
category and make music, write novels or embed various traditional African
motives into their paintings, sculptures or fashion with a futuristic outlook.
To cite Lisa Jaszek, a professor of Science Fiction Studies at the Georgia Tech
School of Literature, Media, and Communication, Afrofuturism can also be
understood “as an extension of the historical recovery projects”, reclaiming a
past and contributions to the present that were not credited and need to be
reclaimed. (compare: https://iac.gatech.edu/featured-news/2023/09/afrofuturism)
When it comes to art, it is paramount to mention Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose
work referenced African traditions and challenged existing racist stereotypes
regarding Americans with African and Caribbean descent. Combined with the
aesthetics of Graffiti, his work paved the way for the Afrofuturist generations
to come.
In the field of music, Sun Ra has to be credited as very influential.
By merging together the aesthetics of ancient Egypt with stories of travels to
outer Space in his clothes and his sound, his Cosmic Jazz stirred up the music
industry from the 1940ies onward all through the Space Age and beyond.
You might take a listen to his album called “Interstellar Low Ways”, just to
mention one of the many.
If you are into comics, you might know that Jack Kirby is as an iconic founding
father of some of Marvels biggest superheroes, just as Stan Lee. He participated
in the making of some of the Universes most famous superheroes like the Hulk,
Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Black Panther, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men.
If you know some of the superheroes above, you might want to take an estimated
guess what most of them have in common. That’s right, they are, as one would
phrase it in the U.S., Caucasian male. To defy the white male bias in Comics,
John Jennings and Stacey Robinson founded “Black Kirby”, a label where they give
Jack Kirbys superheroes an Afrofuturistic makeover. Black Panther was Marvels
first black superhero, having his debut in 1966. The 2018 movie starring
Chadwick Boseman as T’Challa, alias Black Panther, reached a wide audience and
can be seen as a very commonly known example for Afrofuturism.
The artist, whose portraits were shot for this article, was inspired by Black
Panther and presents his own take on Afrofuturism in the featured photos.
You can check out his projects on his Instagram-account “art.style.art”.
From an historic perspective, Afrofuturism has its roots way back, before Jules
Vernes “Travel to the moon” was published in 1865. Jaszek pinpoints the
beginning of Afrofuturism to a poem of an African American woman in 1773.
Phillis Wheatley writes in “on imagination” about black artists, who draw
inspiration for their art from traveling to the stars. One could argue, that the
roots of Afrofuturism are as old as the longing for a future devoid of
oppression. It originated in the U.S.A, where the African diaspora was subjected
to unimaginable structural engrained injustice. Afrofuturism hence is way more
than Sci-Fi, enriched with visual aesthetics of African traditions, it creates
and offers an alternative view on the past, the present, and the future,
challenges uniform cultural monopolies and builds upon the resilience of
generations of fellow human beings, who had to overcome countless adversities.
Not only in the past, but to this day. Jaszek says, that heroes of Afrofuturist
stories often represent the figure of the “black genius” who overcomes
challenges and saves the day by using a mix of indigenous knowledge and Sci-Fi
science.
So, this article is not only an invitation to take a look at artists of this
genre, but also to look at our world with Afrofuturist glasses, that not only
include and give appropriate, equal space to African cultures, contributions and
their heritage, but also paint an alternative picture of our future.
Afrofuturism will make you aware, that the way our future is depicted, is
heavily scewed due to an unvoiced, yet existing westernized bias, ignoring the
existing diverseness and transmitting this uniformity into an imagined future,
devoid of multiplicity. Afrofuturism invites to create images of an alternative,
utopian tomorrow. And just in the same way it can make us aware of that bias,
we all as one – as humans – are invited to make space for the incredible variety
of cultures this planet is inhabited by and to meet each other on a level of
respect, appreciation and true equality, to draw inspiration from each other and
grow into a colorful, vibrant future.
Go out there, fly to the stars, be curious and be kind
pictures taken by Karla Mahler, model: art.style.art
Further readings, sources:
art.style.art https://www.instagram.com/art.style.art/
Afrofuturism:
https://www.theculturecrush.com/feature/afro-futurism https://www.metmuseum.org/
de/perspectives/library-afrofuturism https://iac.gatech.edu/featured-news/2023/
09/afrofuturism
Afrofuturism – timeline
https://earthseed.lmc.gatech.edu/timeline/
Basquiat:
https://www.afrikaiswoke.com/afronaut-jean-michel-basquiat/
Black Kirby:
https://cso.org/experience/article/13006/black-kirby-creators-talk-about-the-
influencemusic
Music - Eight afrofuturist classics everyone needs to hear
https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/articles/0ebecc1d-d08b-465f-924e-ee037e9231ab
On Comics and black superheroes:
https://www.dw.com/en/a-brief-history-of-black-superheroes-in-comics/a-54065060
Oxfords definition of Afrofuturism:
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/afrofuturism