*Please DONATE to my blog! Any amount is appreciated! You can click the paypal button at the side panel or send it to my email svfreebird87@gmail.com through paypal. I was not able to do this post last week because my computer malfunctioned, so this is a combined post for the past two weeks.
*If you haven’t seen it already, the trailer for Oya: Rise of the Orisha premiered this week!
It looks like the film will be epic! Inspired by the Yoruba religion of West African and its goddess/warrior-spirit of winds, storms, fertility, magic and guardian of the underworld, Oya, the synopsis of the story follows Ade “one of the few people with a connection to one of the gods, Oya. She has been tasked with the job of protecting the innocent and that means keeping the door to the gods shut. If the doorway to the gods is opened, they will wreak chaos upon us as retribution for our abandonment of them. To keep the door shut, she must find ‘the key,’ a young girl with the potential to open the doorway, and keep her safe.
The adventure unfolds with a host of memorable characters and a string of unexpected twists, Ade, goes in search of the key, battling against those who wish to open portal and unleashing a horde of forgotten gods and goddesses into the world, with powers and skills beyond our comprehensive and supernatural gifts which will change the course of history for mankind, forever.”
Take a look at Black Girls Code Episode 2:
*Sybaritic Press will be releasing their Octavia Butler-inspired anthology, Near Kin: A Collection of Words and Art Inspired by Octavia E. Butler on Monday. The anthology will include two of my poems based on Butler’s works, “Give Me Your Hand” and “Let My Shadows Cross Over.” Take a look at the cover art below:
*Events from The Afrofuturist Affair:
– The Afrofuturist Affair Gala at Samek Gallery on March 20th in Lewisburg, Penssylvania:
“This unique celebration of black Scifi with live music from composer and producer King Britt, as well as a host of other luminaries from the worlds of performance, music, fashion, and art.”
–Time Travel Conventions Part 1 and Part 2 on March 23 and April 5th in Philadelphia:
Part 1: “The Time Travel Convention is an exhibition that explores time travel as a practical activity – something that does not necessarily require a machine, an advanced degree, or any other privileges. Using afrofuturism and the speculative as lenses, the exhibition will feature time travel devices and objects from creators who use tools such as memory, dreams, imagination, manipulation of language and perception, light, and music to craft their temporal devices.
Time Travel Convention | Pt. 1 – Preparation will prepare travelers for the time machine activation event with
– Quantum Time Capsule Workshop
– Music & Memory Stations
– Time Machine Installation Building
– Dream Journal Project
– Other workshops and interactive activities with contributing artists
Time Travel Convention | Part 2 – Activation is an opening reception for the exhibition and book release for AfroFuturist Affair Creator Rasheedah Phillips’ experimental fiction novel, Recurrence Plot (and Other Time Travel Tales).
Featuring Time Machines and Devices from:
MMGz — PsychoAcoustics & Memory
Black Shesus — The Pyramid of Shesus
R.Phillips — Recurrence Plot (RP)
Kameelah Janan Rasheed — No Instructions of Assembly, Activation II
Alisha Wormsley — black people in the future
Mourl Ferryman — The Shadow and the Substance 2014
Melissa Moore — An Infinitygram: Diasporan Object Design For A New Future
Noni Red – everything begins within
–From Niggas To God Performance & Art Exhibition on March 29 in Baltimore Maryland: “Bridging Afro-Futurism elements that are based in music, art, and technology with philosophies written in “From Niggas to Gods” this event will explore the transformative idea of discovering and identifying with one’s “God-self.”
*Beatbox Botanicals presents the 1st inaugural event Harriet’s Apothecary , sponsored by Black Woman’s Blueprint on April 6th in Brooklyn, New York. Beatbox Botanicals is “a village of Black women and trans healers coming together to nurture and cultivate your body’s intuitive wisdom…The intention of Harriet’s Apothecary is to continue the rich healing legacy of Harriet Tubman. We intend to expand access to health and healing resources that support POC women and trans folks in their healing journeys and connect individuals and communities to accessible self and community based resources that are rooted in the wisdom of our bodies, our ancestors and our plant families.” Some of the guests will include Adaku Utah, Beatrice Anderson, Jasmine Burems, Naima Penniman and Taja Lindley of Colored Girls Hustle . RSVP email beatboxbotanicals@gmail.com.
Listen to one of the tracks from Beatbox Broadcast, “Transformation of SIlence”
*King Britt presents MOONDANCE, A Night in the AfroFuture at MOMA’s PS1 on April 13 in Queens, NYC: “MOONDANCE is a celebration of the blackness in future contexts. The journey is in three parts, lecture, dance and music. King Britt, a key conduit in the sonic movement of Afrofuturists, has gathered his close friends, all of whom are at the forefront of the true movement. Speakers, Ytasha Womack, Dr Alondra Nelson and Hank Shocklee, discuss the true definition of the word AfroFuturism and its major influences on pop culture. Interdisciplinary choreographer D. Sabela Grimes gives a truly unique performance on the influences of AfroFuturism in dance. Live music performances by Shabazz Palaces, Fhloston Paradigm featuring Pia Ercole, Ursula Rucker, HPrizm and Ras G, complete the journey. Visuals provided by Mike Todd.”
*Did you know there is a Museum of Science Fiction?
*African Metropolis: 6 Cities, 6 Tales at Goethe Institut (from Cine Kenya): “African Metropolis is a series of short fiction films that tell urban tales about life in major African metropolises, a unique partnership towards new African cinema. The films were made in six African cities – Abidjan, Cairo, Dakar, Johannesburg, Lagos and Nairobi. Kenya’s entry is Homecoming by Jim Chuchu. His film conveys a voyeur’s obsession with the girl next door, blurring the lines between fantasy and reality, science fiction and fiction. The films were developed over a period of one year with workshops held in Durban and Berlin. This film project is an initiative of Goethe-Institut South Africa and South African executive producer Steven Markovitz, with support from Guaranty Trust Bank plc and the Hubert Bals Fund of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.”
*Call for Papers for ADA: A Journal of Gender, New Media and Technology‘s Issue 5, “CFP: Ada, Issue 5, “Hacking the Black/White Binary”, which will be edited by Brittney Cooper (Rutgers) and Margaret Rhee (UC-Berkeley): “This special issue of Ada: A Journal of Gender, New Media, and Technology will bring together ongoing conversations in critical race theory, women of color feminisms, queer studies, new media studies, and the digital humanities to interrogate the persistence of binaristic Black/White paradigms in U.S. racialization. The Black/White binary is a racial hierarchy historically utilized to uphold anti-Black racism. While the binary may be theoretically useful in highlighting continued racialized violence on African American and Black diasporic communities within the U.S., this Black/White binary frame also potentially obscures multiple structural logics of hegemonic power…”
*Eugene Smith’s “George Clinton, Sun Ra And The Sci-Fi Funk Of Afrofuturism”
* Reagan Jackson and Black Girl Nerd’s “Octavia’s Brood: Visionary Fiction for Social Change:” “It’s only fitting then that her self-proclaimed “Brood” would use sci-fi mixed with a laser focus on contemporary social justice issues to broker a new genre; visionary fiction.”
*Joan Smalls transforms herself into different Disney princesses.
*”17 Black Women in Science and Tech You Should Know” on the Root
*J Hoberman’s “News from Space” comparing the space and futuristic exhibitions at the Studio Museum and the New Museum.
*”‘Boondocks’ Creator Aaron McGruder to Produce New Show Called ‘Black Jesus’” on Colorlines: “The Hollywood Reporter has details: The new half-hour live-action scripted comedy finds Jesus living in present-day Compton, Calif., on a daily mission to spread love and kindness throughout the neighborhood with the help of his small but loyal group of downtrodden followers. Newcomer Gerald “Slink” Johnson (Grand Theft Auto V) stars as Black Jesus. Charlie Murphy(Are We There Yet?), Corey Holcomb (The Cleveland Show), Kali Hawk (Couples Retreat), up-and-coming comedian Andrew “King Bach” Bachelor, Andra Fuller (L.A. Complex) and The Boondocks’ John Witherspoon round out the cast.”
*Jennifer Pan and Jacobin Magazine’s “The Labor of Social Media:” “But the celebration of social media as the great leveler often overlooks the inequalities that continue to persist across different forms of publishing. As bloggers like Trudy of Gradient Lair and Flavia Dzodan have pointed out, the gaping power imbalance between those (mostly white) feminists who have media perches and those who do not has not diminished because of social media.”
*”INTERVIEW: Visual Artist Michi Meko – Conjuring Super Powers” on Afropunk: “…As we discussed Meko’s art and where he finds himself in historical canons, as well as amongst his contemporaries, the conversation took some obscure turns. One minute we were talking about Afro-Futurism and the next minute we entered the world of donks and rims. Meko said the future that the Afro-Futurists are imagining is for the next generation and the future that George Clinton and those of his time imagined, is what we’re living right now. He thinks the future is now and testament to that statement is our rides. ‘The Chevys with the 32-inch rims and the way that we decorate our decorations and color match stuff super hard, I think that’s all postmodern and I think that that’s all futuristic…’ He notes that 20-inch rims now come standard when in the past young cats were criticized for defacing their cars….”
*Indiegogo campaign for Future-n-Fantasy book series, Tales of the Kryvesic Orb, by King Author. Read the full summary here.
*New Music:
Natalie “The Floacist” Stewart’s Rise of the Phoenix Mermaid which will be released March 18th.
Dom Jones‘ “The Morning Galaxy”
Sherese Francis: Futuristically Ancient 