Following in the Footsteps of Warriors

I consider myself an afrofuturist. It appeals to me on a personal and spiritual level – the mix of sci-fi and indigenous sensibilities. Interpretations of a future through an afrocentric lens; this is the concept that drives much of my work. When I perform or create images, I draw similarities from artists such as George Clinton, Grace Jones, Janelle Monae, and of course Sun Ra, as well as classic films, writers like Octavia Butler, and visual artists such as Jean Michel Basquiat and Ellen Gallagher. The list is much more expansive, and the messages all converge, to what I have found to be one common thread: We are warriors on the frontier of changing human consciousness about Black and African people, and also the future of our planet.

Someday I hope to travel to the African continent, to experience this rich land and all its history. Perhaps to reconnect to a heritage and past that only remains in my body due to ancestral memory. Where I’ve come from in this lifetime has not been the kindest of places for a Black or Mixed Race individual, nor has it been as difficult as other paths. However, for me, any celebration of Black people living, THRIVING, is crucially important to experience. Not just a physical experience, but one that is multi-faceted – visual, emotional, subliminal, spiritual. I visualize times and places where I am living in an alternate future, one which the past does not define, where skin color truly has no impact on perception, and where Black people thriving is a norm across all societies.

We are only 50 years or so past the Jim Crow laws in the US, and long after emancipation, even still today, Black Americans are still seen as less than a person by many, despite legislature and politics. Laws don’t necessarily change minds, and in some ways, parts of the US are frozen in time, still caught in the space-time continuum of miseducation, intolerance, ingrained violence, and the karmic impact of everything that has transpired on the lands they still live on. Yes, I do believe that the actions of violence and violation that resulted from chattel slavery are stored in us, in our spaces, in our lands, in our DNA. The trauma of this event is not only stored in the bodies and lives of Black people today, but also the descendants of those who committed heinous actions against other humans.

I am getting deep, and its uncomfortable, I know. But setting the stage is important.

Afrofuturists imagine a world where a trauma-based existence is no longer the dominant narrative for Black people. Afrofuturism is a movement based in solutions, honoring and centering traditional ways of being to inform current decisions in an effort to create a better future. Afrofuturism is a place where the collective consciousness operates from a place of already attained liberation. I can’t speak for any other artist who creates work of an Afrofuturist nature, but I do know what I experience when I enter that place. I am able to just be, I am able to see myself as I want to be seen by the world, and I am not defined by what was done to me in the past. I am able to tap into a space of eternal wisdom, acceptance, and resolve. I can feel a force guiding me that is sometimes so subtle that it becomes intrinsic, like my own voice guiding myself. And it can often be so loud that it will not permit me to be silent either. The intuition & intelligence of my subliminal mind and my celestial body comes directly from a spirit connection to an entity which is also part of me – my ancestors, living out there in the realm unseen.

I’m sure at this point, you are saying, this is too metaphysical. I have heard that many times… Folks have often used their experience in science, physics, politics, organized and Abrahamic religion, and other non-spirit based ideologies to discredit the existence of my reality, rationalizing my experience to fit into a context they can neatly package. And, at this point, I’m ok with that. I know what I know to be true for me. I know that I am proud to feel and seek an experience that is not defined solely by Western belief systems. I know that just because there is not an existing scientific explanation for all my spirit-based beliefs, doesn’t make them less real, for me or for those who are attuned to receive those messages. Many things in this world happen without any ‘logical’ explanation, and we as humans are not nearly as wise in the ways of the universe as we make ourselves out to be.

Back to being a warrior… The images interspersed here are shots that were captured by Sandy Ramirez, an OG, mega-talented, NYC-based photographer. I’m incredibly impressed by his resume – he could fill an entire scroll and just roll it out across the room. Maybe more than once. We decided to pursue one of his concepts, to take the subway from Manhattan to Coney Island, a route inspired by the story, ‘The Warriors’. The book and cult classic which portrayed rival gang battles, and a fateful journey from the Bronx to Coney Island was our storyboard. Although there would be no rivals or police in pursuit, no bloodshed, no outward conflict – I certainly intended to present a badass character moving though these spaces in a visually intense way.

The stage was set: a hot, sticky, late June afternoon in New York. Complete with my vintage leather jacket, harness, and excessively voluminous hair, I met Sandy at Bryant Park, we hopped on the F train and went on our way.

The day wasn’t having it. We took some shots on the train, and then hopped off to get some on the platform. We boarded again, but didn’t get far. Train delays first slowed, and then cancelled service, making sure we never got to our Coney Island destination. Almost like life imitating art, we were forced off-track, similar to The Warriors storyline, but the difference was that we were here to capture a moment, and at that point, we had no reason to keep going. Sandy and I decided that we would end the journey and head back, once it was clear the desired train was out of service. Standing in a packed, hot platform, with a hundred or more people all unable to get where they are going, that’s kinda where the creative juices and energy level come to a halt for me. Yet, we still captured six intense, gritty, and warrior-like shots, and these six images embody my brand of afrofuturist imagery to a tee.

For a moment, I was a Warrior, and whether or not those who saw me that day had any clue what they witnessed, the message still remains. The future is exactly what we make it, and I’m here to make it look a little more like this.

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  1. Jay Robinson says:

    This is a beautiful piece of writing.
    And that’s just the beginning.