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Wired in: This painting “Santeria the
Goddess” by Stefano Fortis will be
on display in the Afrofuturism exhibit
at the Brooklyn Antiquarian Book
Festival on Sept. 7–8. Stefano Fortis
Black to the future
Afrofuturism art exhibit comes to Greenpoint
COURIER LIFE, AUG. 23-29, 2019 51
By Chandler Kidd The future is now!
An annual book fair focused on
antique volumes will also peek into
the future next month. The sixth annual
Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair, returning
to the Brooklyn Expo Center in Greenpoint
on Sept. 7, will feature booksellers hawking
first editions and rare novels, along with
seminars and art exhibits, including one
showcase titled “One Day You’ll See: A
History of Afrofuturism.”
The exhibit celebrates black characters
in science-fiction and futuristic contexts,
as featured in books, paintings, posters,
music, comic books, and sculpture. The
term “Afrofuturism” was coined in 1993 by
art critic Mark Dery to refer to 20th Century
literature that combines African-American
characters and stories about technology, but
one of the show’s thee curators rejects that
definition as overly limiting.
“Afrofuturism is a membrane, it is
sort of something that anybody who is of
African descent can tap into. It is like a
realm of dreams, hopes and fears,” said
Brian Chidester.
The exhibition begins with a first edition
of the 1920 book “Darkwater,” by W.E.B.
Du Bois, which contains a short story about
a black man who is one of the few people
to survive a worldwide apocalypse. From
there the eclectic exhibition includes more
novels, images of sci-fi landscapes, and
mass-produced entertainment, including
comic books and music album covers. Each
exhibitor focused on their own specialty.
“We picked the pieces based on our
research and thinking about the subject
matter, for me that was dealing with contemporary
Afrofuturism, so I stuck with
comics,” said Stacey Robinson, one of the
three curators. Among the black superheroes
in the exhibit will be Black Panther,
who hails from a secret high-tech African
society; strongman Luke Cage; and supernatural
hero Brother Voodoo.
The curators are especially excited
about a spaceship sculpture created by
Kambel Smith, a contemporary artist from
Philadelphia, inside of which will play a
17-minute video detailing his imaginary
world. Other gems include original paintings
and comic strips by Charles Williams,
who invented his own black superheroes in
the 1950s and ’60s, Stevie Wonder’s album
“Innervisions” from 1973, which includes
the song “Heaven Is 10 Zillion Light Years
Away,” and Brooklynite N.K. Jemisin’s
short story collection “How Long ‘til Black
Future Month?”
The collection aims to educate visitors
on the current state of black culture and
where it comes from, Robinson said.
“The exhibit is a way of speculating
about black art. There’s always elements
inside Afrofuturism that examine the past,
examine past political movements, while
celebrating popular culture, but also speculate
about the future based on the politics of
the present,” he said.
Brooklyn Antiquarian Book Fair at the
Brooklyn Expo Center (72 Noble St. at Franklin
Street in Greenpoint, www.brooklynbookfair.
com). Sept. 7–8; Sat, noon–7 p.m.; Sun, 11
a.m.–5 p.m. $10–$15 ($5–$10 in advance)
/www.brooklynbookfair
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/www.brooklynbookfair
