Deadeyes, Ras Terms, Safety First, AshRose, Antjaun Oden
The Black Futurists: Black Progressive Thought to Science Fiction

Opening Reception
May 19th – Thursday
6pm – 10pm
…audio transmissions by dj fflood
with Talia and Wordup on the mic

African American Art & Cultural Complex
762 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA

In this exhibition, the message is about the Black Futurism, which combines elements of science fiction, fantasy, and Afrocentricity.

In the late 1990s, a number of cultural critics, notably Mark Dery in his 1995 essay Black to the Future, began to write about the features they saw as common in the African-American science fiction, music, and art. Dery dubbed this phenomenon “Afro-Futurism”.

Examples of seminal “AfroFurtusitc” works include the novels of Samuel R. Delany and Octavia Butler; the canvases of Jean-Michel Basquiat and the photography of Renée Coz; as well as the extraterrestrial mythos of Parliament-Funkadelic, Lee Scratch Perry, Sun Ra, Broun Fellinis, Alice Coltrane and Electric Miles and the sonic tests of DJ Spooky. These artists took their art form beyond the existing limits and brought in many elements outside the Black experience including: science fiction, elements of rock and world music, art movements, technology infused with Black identity, culture and the ideas of Black life in the future. Black Diamond Shining will celebrate The Black Futurists, who are the heroes of this culture – past and present – and visually show examples of the themes of Black Futurism with their paintings