Ghana’s design scene hails from 2035: @MohammedBlakk

Mohammed Osumanu, 29, is a fashion stylist, designer, and artist from Accra who describes himself as as “a guy determined to push African art and fashion beyond boundaries”. The founder of the brand Afronative, Mohammed, aka @MohammedBlakk, is also one of the four #KvngsOfTheNewSchool, a crew of self-described “art citizens” advancing “an inclusive movement of afrocentric people who wish to …

TALENTS – CLINT MALIK PUTS NAIROBI ON THE BLACK FUTURIST MAP (interview)

Clinton Malik is a creative, style blogger and fashion model from Kenya with a visionary style that mixes afrofuturism and nostalgia. Since starting “Be your own creation” (BYOC) in May 2015, a brand promoting originality, creativity and self-worth through fashion, travel, art and music, he has built a solid reputation as a community-focused stylist and a big following on social …

SOLICITED ARTICLE “DEAR RIBANE EXPLORE OUR INNER ALIEN” FOR THE ART MOMENTUM

I was looking forward to sharing news of my collaboration with the recently-launched magazine The Art Momentum for days but have been busy traveling, translating and looking after the little one so it had to wait until today. The Art Momentum is a beautifully curated platform that offers a look into African and Afrodiasporic artistic approaches and narratives that shift …

MUKHTARA YUSUF: INDIGENOUS EPISTEMOLOGIES AND ‘BAD DESIGN’

As anticipated, here is my second post about Mukhtara Yusuf, penned and published in Blacks to the Future. Stay on the blog to read it, or head to BsttF to enjoy a bonus audio track by Mukhtara’s mother! *** Mukhtara Yusuf is a cultural activist of Nigerian Yoruba origin who explores identity making in a post-colonial context through Afrofuturist art. …

SELLY RABY KANE: WEARABLE AFRO-COSMOLOGY

Read my new post on the Senegalese designer Selly Raby Kane, now available – in English and French! – on BlackstotheFuture at this link. Here is an excerpt. Kane’s tactile storytelling unveils an eclectic exploration of the hidden facets of normality, where the alien is found in the everyday. A prominent member of Les Petites Pierre, an art collective headquartered at Ouakam (Dakar), Kane …

AFROSARTORIALISM PARTNERS WITH BLACKS TO THE FUTURE!

Today I am happy to announce I’m officially an editorial partner @ Blacks to the Future! This transmedia platform, headquartered in Paris, promotes a “forward-looking, sustainable and uninhibited relationship with africanness and its means of expression”, with the aim of overtaking  stereotyped views of Africa, providing a critical thought on blackness, and nourishing inspiration through an Afrofuturistic vision of the world. As a first contribution, the team led by art director …

THOUGHTS ON THE AFROFUTURIST INFLUENCE ON AFROSARTORIALISM

An article by Laura Havlin that appeared in AnOther Magazine back in September is a good source to get acquainted with the afrofuturist aesthetic and to point to its influence on afrosartorial trends. In particular, Havlin notes the correspondence between the afrofuturist concept of non-linear time and the knowledge that space contains multiple geographies of dwelling and belonging. This is one way of pointing to the relevance of diasporic consciousness for cultural …

THE BLACK SELFIE: LOZA MALÉOMBHO’S #ALIENEDITS

On March 6th, 2015 Tumblr and other social media hosted the first BlackOutDay to counter the notion that beauty is a whites-only affair. According to a statement published in the official page of the movement, on BlackOutDay black users “like and reblog selfies of each other and fill our dashboards with encouragement”. Since then, the day has been made seasonal, with the second event taking …