The Archival Impulse: From the Deep with Ayana V. Jackson

Ayana V. Jackson employs archival impulses to challenge the impacts of colonialism and the racialization and sexualization of Black bodies. Her solo exhibition From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya, which is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, extends the impulse through the production of collaborative and multimedia artworks that reframe the memory and legacy of trans-Atlantic slavery. The exhibition weaves a rich tapestry that invokes ecological concerns, Afrofuturism, the histories of techno music, the transfer of technology and artistic traditions, and the cosmology of African water spirits. In this talk, Jackson will discuss how her “impulse” engages historical archives in order to suggest alternative and more just futures.

Host or Publisher Communication, Culture, and Technology Program (CCTP)