As part of Celestial Navigation: a year into the afro future, Light Work UVP and Community Folk Art Center (CFAC) are pleased to co-present Black Radical Imagination I & II, a two-part screening of experimental film and video curated by Erin Christovale and Amir George exploring the aesthetics of afro-futurism and afro-surrealism. This touring program has visited prestigious academic institutions, cutting edge film festivals, and contemporary art venues around the world, but has not yet screened in Central New York.

Each program will be followed by a discussion with the curators. For Black Radical Imagination II, artists Ephraim Asili and Lewis Vaughn will join the conversation. Black Radical Imagination II will also be followed by a reception.

Both events are FREE & OPEN to the public.

About the Programs

Black Radical Imagination I Program:

The Golden Chain by Adebukola Bodunrin & Ezra Claytan Daniels
The Changing Same by Cauleen Smith
Split Ends, I Feel Wonderful by Akosua Adoma Owusu
Reifying Desire 2 by Jacolby Satterwhite
The Afronauts by Cristina de Middel
Quiescence Interrupted… Adumbrate by Anansi Knowbody
Mae’s Journal by Amir George

Black Radical Imagination II Program:

Black Bullets by Jeannette Ehlers
Black Magic at the White House by Jeannette Ehlers
The Baptist by Lewis Vaughn
Moonrising by Terence Nance & Sanford Biggers
Get the Bones from 88 Jones Because She Also Eats Meat by Lauren Kelley
American Hunger by Ephraim Asili
Field Notes by Vashti Harrison

Black Radical Imagination I & II is presented in conjunction with the exhibition of Jeannette Ehlers: Black Bullets at UVP’s Everson Museum of Art venue and the exhibition of Cristina de Middel’s “The Afronauts” at CFAC.

About the Curators

Erin Cristovale is a curator based in Los Angeles focusing on film/video within the African Diaspora. She graduated with a B.A. from the USC School of Cinematic Arts and currently has an exhibition at the MoCADA Museum called “a/wake in the water:Meditations on Disaster”. She also works with a collective of creatives called Native Thinghood promoting emerging artists of color.

Amir George is a motion picture artist and film curator from Chicago. His video work and curated programs have been screened in festivals and galleries across the US, Canada, and Europe. In addition to founding The Cinema Culture, a grassroots film programming organization, Amir George was founding programmer of Black Cinema House, a residential cinema space on Chicago’s south side. He currently teaches and produces media with youth throughout Chicagoland.

Sponsors

These events and exhibitions are presented in collaboration with the Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts Department of Transmedia and the Department of Art Visiting Artist Lecture Series, the Community Folk Art Center (CFAC), and with the generous support of the Syracuse University Humanities Center and the New York State Council on the Arts.