The My-Stery: Holidays, Celebrations and The Pleasure of Racist Masquerade

Anyone on social media has probably already come across the shitstorm of white people dressing in blackface/brownface costumes. The recent events have included dancer and actress Julianne Hough‘s Orange is the New Black costume, the 21-year-old Australian woman’s “African”-themed birthday party, the Trayvon Martin and George Zimmerman costumers, Italian fashion designer Allesandro Dell’Acqua‘s “Disco Africa” […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Renina Jarmon and Black Girls Are From the Future Part 2

Here is part two of the Renina Jarmon interview from yesterday. Below Jarmon talks about the significance of Erykah Badu, Octavia Butler and Janelle Monae, her future plans for Black Girls Are From the Future and the future she dreams of for Black girls: 6) The book includes discussions on Octavia Butler and Janelle Monae. […]

Modern Griots Interviews: Renina Jarmon and Black Girls Are From the Future

Renina Jarmon is a writer, cultural critic, blogger and educator whose work centers on Black women’s sexuality and pop culture, as well as race, technology and the concept of self. She recently released her book, Black Girls Are From the Future, a collection of essays based on her popular posts from her blog New Model […]

Otherworldly Videos: The Day They Came

“The Day They Came” is a Genesis Williams‘ directed short film starring Tony Doe and from the new Nigerian production company, Ficson. It seems like this going to be a web series, so I am interested to see more, particularly because of the special effects, which I read was done on a very small budget.

The My-Stery: Tribute to Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes

After reading Shadow and Act’s review about the TLC biopic, Crazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story, I was reminded of how much Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes is underrated as an artist. In TLC, some thought of her as mainly the wacky and crazy rapper of the group who burned her boyfriends house down. But if we […]

Modern Griots Review: Wangechi Mutu’s A Fantastic Journey

To have a fantastic imagination requires a fluidity of perception of reality and that encapsulates Wangechi Mutu’s exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, A Fantastic Journey. Mutu’s medium of collage artwork provides a natural basis for her ideas that combine an ancient mythic and animistic values with the futuristic cyborg concepts to comment on global modern […]

Otherwordly Videos: Anansi

Here is the first episode, “Spiderling,” of the Issa Rae-produced Anansi series, starring Andrew Allan James, who played the role of “A” in the The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl. I am not so sure how I feel about it yet, but I am intrigued by this kind of were-spider concept where he changes at […]

The My-Stery: Domestic Violence and Speculative Fiction

This is both Domestic Violence Awareness Month and Black Speculative Fiction Month, so, I want to highlight a campaign and a works of speculative fiction that brings awareness to domestic violence. The campaign I want to focus on is 31 for Marissa in honor of Marissa Alexander who fired a warning shot from a gun […]

Moving on the Wires: The reImagining Project + Electronium + “Scars/Stars” + “Free the Town” + THEESatisfaction + Ancestral Voices

Sorry everyone for not posting last week, but I was working on an essay for the Afrofuturism 2.0 (and falling in love with The Walking Dead hehe). But below are some things that are happening or will happen in the near future: *A friend of mine sent me this project from photographer, Ijeoma D. Iheanacho, […]

Art of This World: Joshua Mays + Caitlin Cherry

Denver born painter, muralist and illustrator, Joshua Mays is a self-taught, visionary artist who has featured his murals all over the world. He draws inspiration from “science-fiction, dreamscape exploration and futuristic visions.” In his interviews, he says often of the importance of the arts on STEM fiields; for example, he said “creative ideas that are […]