Afro-Futurism: Envisioning the Year 2070 and Beyond

What will Black Consciousness look like in the year 2070? This question, posed by the curator Kheven LaGrone, is the theme of Afro-Futurism: Envisioning the Year 2070 and Beyond, on view at San Francisco Public Library. Displayed among history books and reading tables in the library’s African American Center, the exhibit offers diverse perspectives from ten artists and stands as a time capsule unearthed for exploration. The artist and scholar Ajuan Mance presents three portraits in response to LaGrone’s question that serve as artifacts for this not-so-distant future. 

Mance’s portraits, titled The Natural History of Good Black Hair (all from 2013), share uniform silver backgrounds with the word Afrobiotic in the lower left-hand corners and use color to differentiate the individuals portrayed. The Natural History of Good Black Hair #4 is a visual punch of vibrant red, depicting a male figure in profile from the shoulders up. Drawn as a combination of geometric forms, the figure seems to refract the monochromatic red like a prism expressing a range of hues. An afro extends past the canvas’s edge, replete with images of pop memorabilia under a veneer of red paint. Shadows trace each object and mimic the black lines used to draw the figure. As one’s gaze drifts from the rectangular edge of a cassette tape to the symmetrical shapes in the portrait, a viewer links the African American figure to innovations in popular culture. It is a connection that exposes the appropriation of and repackaging of Black Consciousness as popular consciousness—effectively erasing African American contributions.

With her works’ title, Mance positions the portrait as an origin story for the Black Consciousness of 2070. Emphasizing the Black Power movement through the featured afro, Mance envisions a social future that views 1970’s radical liberation, not as a culmination, but as part of a continuum.

Ajuan Mance. The Natural History of Good Black Hair #4, 2013; acrylic and mixed media on canvas; 16 x 19 in. Courtesy of the Artist and San Francisco Public Library. Photo: Maureen Russell.

Afro-Futurism: Envisioning the Year 2070 and Beyond is on view at the San Francisco Public Library through August 1, 2013 and will be accompanied by an artist talk in the Koret Auditorium on June 16, 2013.  

Dani Neitzelt is a graduate student at California College of the Arts pursuing a Masters degree in visual critical studies.