Afrofuturism, first coined by cultural critic Mark Dery in his 1993 essay, “Black to the Future,” broadly delineates a cultural aesthetic, philosophy, and method of artistic approach that seeks to envision a new future for members of the African diaspora. These imagined aspirational futures, which take any number of forms, from literature to music and visual art, incorporate elements of science fiction, African identity and contemporary technoculture.
The cultural and conceptual foundations of Afrofuturism were laid in the 1950s by a generation of avant-garde artists and writers like Sun-Ra and Octavia Butler. Today, Afrofuturism is an animating force behind myriad art forms: Marvel’s “Black Panther,” Janelle Monáe’s album “Dirty Computer,” and visual artist Ellen Gallagher’s subterranean dreamscapes. These artistic works, inspired by the themes of utopianism and liberation inherent within Afrofuturism, seek to conjure new cinematic, sonic, and visual worlds that foreground people of African descent.
Where Afrofuturism is primarily concerned with the potential of an ecstatic new future, Afrosurrealism, first termed by poet Amiri Baraka, is, by contrast, firmly rooted in navigating and articulating the conditions of the present. As D. Scot Miller, the author of “Black is the New Black — A 21st Century Manifesto” explains, within Afrosurrealism, both the past and future exist “RIGHT NOW.” Miller cites major artists like Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, and Nick Cave as leading exemplars of what it means to analyze the sociopolitical conditions of the past through the lens of the present. Recent Afrosurrealist works, such as film director Jordan Peele’s paranoid thriller “Get Out” and Beyonce’s music video “Ape Shit” have upped the surreality of the genre by introducing a new level of absurdity and wholly new elements of strangeness.
As digital art continues to grow in popularity, Afrofuturist and Afrosurrealist artists have adopted new technological modes of production and exhibition. London-based digital artist Vince Fraser, for example, pushes the bounds of Afrosurrealism in his current exhibition with Artechouse in Washington DC. The immersive show entitled Aṣẹ: Afro Frequencies, welcomes viewers to experience Fraser’s fantastical work on a massive scale. Fraser’s futurist creations are projected onto entire walls and strips of floor, as viewers are enveloped within the glimmering, celebratory techno world that he creates. Other digital artists such as Osborne Macharia and Manzel Bowman are breaking new ground with futuristic portraiture, using technology to imagine an alternate future that draws inspiration from African culture of the past.
Afrofuturism, as a conceptual, creative approach, has gained traction in popular culture in recent decades, inviting a new generation of young artists into this multifaceted conversation about African diasporic identity, history and hopes for the future.
