This document discusses the connections between West African cosmology and Afrofuturist art. It explores how Afrofuturist artists reimagine history and the future of the African diaspora through science, science fiction, and technology with their own worldviews. The Kalunga line under the Atlantic Ocean, representing the threshold between the living and dead, is referenced. Crossroads have complex patterns in West African cultures and are simplified in Afrofuturist art. Works aim to position viewers in a sense of completeness or utopia, referenced as Funkentelechy in P-funk music.
3. “Kongo and Yoruba
cosmology (indicates) a
connection to and contiguity
with the spirituality of
African continental space.”
4. ORIGIN MYTHOLOGIES
Artists, particularly in Afrofuturism, re-contextualize and assess history and
imagine the future of the African Diaspora via science, science fiction, technology,
sound, performance... and their own world views.
5. KALUNGA (WATER) LINE
Kalunga is Kikongo for “threshold between worlds” and is often associated with
the Atlantic Ocean. The Kalunga line is a line under the Atlantic Ocean where the
living became the dead and the only way back to life was to re-cross the line.
6.
7. CROSSROADS
(Cosmograms) have been
evident in West African
cultures and have been
elaborated upon, showing
complex intricate patterns or
simplified into abbreviated
X’s, or even V’s implying an
arc of travel or motion.
8. FUNKENTELECHY
Afrofuturist art resonates
with P-funk’s Funkentelechy,
or a sense of completeness
or utopia. These works re-position
or direct the
viewer/listener to ensure that
everyone is on ‘the One.’
9.
10. QUESTIONS
Image Credits:
Jean Michel-Basquiat. “King
Alphonso,” 1983.
Kikongo Cosmogram. Courtesy Duane
Deterville and SFMoMA.
Ellen Gallagher. “La Chinoise, (detail)”
2008.
Kahlil Joseph, with Flying Lotus.
“Until the Quiet Comes (still),” 2012.
Maxwell. “Embrya,” 1998.
Parliament. “Motor Booty Affair (inner
cover),” 1978.
Sanford Biggers, with David Ellis.
“Mandala of the B-Bodhisattva II,”
2000.
Brides of Frankenstein. “Funk or
Walk,” 1978.
Xenobia Bailey. “Sister Paradise's
Apron (detail),” 2000.
Saya Woolfalk. “ChimaTek,” 2014.
Jean Michel-Basquiat. “Tuxedo,” 1983.
Notes de l'éditeur
In her essay, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The African Cosmogram as a Blueprint for Modern Art, Lisa Clark reconciles Basquiat’s oeuvre with the hieroglyphics and ideology of an ancient African (Kongo) symbol called a cosmogram.
Scholars such as Wyatt MacGaffey define the cosmogram as the “simplest ritual space” that symbolically overlaps with the Christian crucifix and Buddhist mandala. We can find resonances of the Kongo Cosmogram that are central to traditions across the African Diaspora, including Afrofuturism, described as a method of re-contextualizing and synthesizing the past, present and future.
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