‘In the Black Fantastic’ brings together eleven contemporary artists from the African diaspora. Enchantingly, they reshape and draw on elements of folklore, myth, science fiction, spiritual lore and Afrofuturism. The artists reshape the way we imagine the past and think about the future. At the same time, they deal with the challenges and conflicts of the present. In painting, photography, video, sculpture and mixed-media installations, the artists address racial injustice and explore alternative worlds and realities.
Including the legendary soundsuits of American artist Nick Cave (1959), Ellen Gallagher (1965) who interweaves myth and the history of the Atlantic slave trade in her Watery Ecstatic works and Wangechi Mutu’s (1972) compelling video work The End of eating Everything in which she depicts the monstrousness of mass consumption.
Writer and curator Ekow Eshun brings together two generations of artists in the exhibition: Nick Cave, Sedrick Chisom, Ellen Gallagher, Hew Locke, Wangechi Mutu, Rashaad Newsome, Chris Ofili, Tabita Rezaire, Cauleen Smith, Lina Iris Viktor and Kara Walker.
