Welcome To

AFRO NEXUS

What's Afro Futurism

Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic that combines science-fiction, history and fantasy to explore the African-American experience and aims to connect those from the black diaspora with their forgotten African ancestry. A cultural movement that uses the frame of science fiction and fantasy to reimagine the history of the African diaspora and to invoke a vision of a technically advance and generally hopeful future in which black people thrive: this movement is expressed through art, cinema, literature, music, fashion, etc. Though there are many definitions of Afrofuturism, they all have themes of reclamation, black liberation, and previsioning of the past and predictions of the future through a black cultural lens in common.

News & Events

NYC MET

In keeping with the collaborative spirit of Afrofuturism, The Met’s curatorial team worked with lead curator Hannah Beachler, who envisioned and designed this space with consulting curator Michelle Commander. Since 2019, the group has engaged numerous creative and intellectual partners to infuse the installation with additional ideas and perspectives. Here, at a vital intersection at the heart of the Museum, this project opens a space for yet more histories to be told that look toward a more resilient future.

Reginald F. Lewis Museum

Saturday, August 19 | 2 pm Join several artists from Afro-Futurist Manifesto: Blackness Reimagined for a conversation examining afro-futurism and how it served as an inspiration for their works. The panel is moderated by Afro-Futurist Manifesto originating curator Myrtis Bedolla of Galerie Myrtis. Panelists will include: Arvie Smith Felandus Thames M. Scott Johnson Morel Doucet Developed for the 2022 Venice Biennale, one of the most prestigious cultural institutions in the world, Afro-Futurist Manifesto brings together a stellar assemblage of African-American artists who construct a future forged in transatlantic links and Afrofuturism’s ideology to expand the notion of Blackness at the intersection of technology and liberation. Bedolla is only the second Black woman commissioned to curate a showing for the renowned exhibition.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR OCTAVIA E. BUTLER

OCTAVIA E. BUTLER was a renowned African American author who received a MacArthur “Genius” Grant and PEN West Lifetime Achievement Award for her body of work. Born in Pasadena in 1947, she was raised by her mother and her grandmother. She was the author of several award-winning novels including PARABLE OF THE SOWER (1993), which was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and PARABLE OF THE TALENTS (1995) winner of the Nebula Award for the best science fiction novel published that year. She was acclaimed for her lean prose, strong protagonists, and social observations in stories that range from the distant past to the far future.

Though the MacArthur Grant made life easier in later years, she struggled for decades when her dystopian novels exploring themes of Black injustice, global warming, women’s rights and political disparity were, to say the least, not in commercial demand.

During these years of obscurity Butler, always an early riser, woke at 2 a.m. every day to write, and then went to work as a telemarketer, potato chip inspector, and dishwasher, among other things.

She passed away on February 24, 2006. At the time of her death, interest in her books was beginning to rise, and in recent years, sales of her books have increased enormously as the issues she addressed in her Afro-Futuristic, feminist novels and short fiction have only become more relevant.

Her work is now taught in over 200 colleges and universities nationwide. The #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel adaptation of her book KINDRED, created by Damian Duffy and John Jennings, received the Eisner Award for best adaptation.

In media, her novel DAWN is being developed for television by Ava DuVernay (“Selma”; “A Wrinkle In Time”). An opera by Toshi Reagon based on Butler’s novel PARABLE OF THE SOWER was part of The Public Theatre “Under the Radar” festival and toured worldwide in 2018. Amazon Studios and JuVee Productions (Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s production company) are developing a drama series from Butler’s PATTERNIST series, beginning with WILD SEED, and the series is being co-written by Nnedi Okorafor and Wanuri Kahiu, who will also direct.