"There is a political dimension to my practice." | Artist Arthur Jafa | Louisiana Channel
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- Опубліковано 11 сер 2021
- Meet one of the truly extraordinary artists of our time, Arthur Jafa. A while ago we visited him at his studio in Los Angeles for a talk about his amazing work 'Love is the Message, The Message is Death' (2018). He came to Denmark in connection with his exhibition at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, which shows several of Jafa’s groundbreaking works.
“The fundamental state of Blackness is something that I am interested in”, says Jafa in this comprehensive, but at the same time ever more personal interview. “A lot of my impulse being analytical certainly comes out of growing up in very emotional spaces. The nature of Black being, who and what we are, is a product of non-consensual, genetic and cultural exchange. Often I have to remind myself and other people: Black people are human beings as well.”
“If you take Greek or Roman sculpture and it is pointing at the sky, you will say, hey this is man’s ambition. If you paint that same sculpture black, it gets narrowed down to that Black man’s ambition. A black figure can’t be standing in for humankind.”
“The irony or paradoxical thing about Black being is: Black people are both an emblem of abjection, but at the same time they are an emblem of possibility. Not just the thing that destroyed you, but that made you.”
Jafa continues reflecting upon the power and importance of language, images, communication. “In the world, we are living in, we know that its complexity even outruns the capacity of the more powerful to control it. They can’t control what is happening in the world. They can’t make Arab Spring or the Civil Rights Movement not happen. It doesn’t matter, how much military, economic power they have, they can’t control the world. But what they can control is spin. They can control what something exploding is supposed to mean. So to a certain degree, there is a political dimension to my practice. It really is about trying to destabilize the mechanisms that try to make us come to whatever conclusion they decide we should come to.”
“By teaching that the Civil Rights Movement was a mass movement, what you are doing is undermining the idea that a few people can make a change. Individual and small groups of individuals can function catalytically though. That’s what should be being taught.”
Arthur Jafa (b. 1960) is an American Mississippi-born visual artist, film director, and cinematographer. Jafa has exhibited widely including at the Hirshhorn in Los Angeles, Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Tate Liverpool in Liverpool, Serpentine Galleries in London and lately at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark. His work as a cinematographer with directors such as Spike Lee and Stanley Kubrick has been notable, and his work on ‘Daughters of the Dust’ (1991) won the ‘Best Cinematography' Award at Sundance. In 2019, Jafa was awarded the Golden Lion for best artist at the Venice Biennale for his film ‘The White Album’. Jafa has also worked as a director of photography on several music videos, including for Solange Knowles and Jay-Z. Jafa co-founded TNEG with Malik Sayeed, a “motion picture studio whose goal is to create a Black cinema as culturally, socially and economically central to the 21st century as was Black music to the 20th century.” He lives and works in Los Angeles.
Arthur Jafa was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in July 2021 in connection with his exhibition MagnumB at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark. The video excerpts shown in the video are all part of this exhibition.
Camera: Klaus Elmer
Edited by: Klaus Elmer
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2021
Supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond
#ArthurJafa #BlackIdentity #LoveIsTheMessage
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I know nothing about Jafa’s art but I’m inspired by the way he speaks
Enjoyed this. The fragmented sea imagery and discussion very much reminded me of Stanislaw Lem's descriptions of the nature and transformations observed across the surface of Solaris by scientists in the novel. Somehow, as humans, when we see what appear to be artifacts of violent fragmentation, we are reminded of ourselves, of the "unwholeness" -- one might even say parasitic aftermath -- that we spread around ourselves like a grim haze. Perhaps we instinctively recognize ourselves in what can never fly and never sink.
Killing it with the pink shoes
yup yup
Arthur Jafa is genius and "Love is the Message - The Message is Death" has to be among the best titles of all eternity.
That said, the title for THIS video was extremely poorly chosen :/
I'm listening to him talk "waiting" for the title to justify itself but all I hear is a man talking about his work, in an interesting way.
@@Demention94 8th
Great!
I feel for many of the artist - black artists that have to have conversations with people who are not really qualified to discuss the artists work. Just sayin.
Pfffff.
agreed 🙏🏾
@@chloefourte3413 with which one?
I think Arthur would disagree. If not having conversations how do we learn?
32:15 ❤❤❤
Rihana kalu di tanah airku =Cita2tata bros diden we have. Artis kredibel talenta you now bros blus talenta words menakjubkan ngomong2malam tahun baru 2021 dimana!semoga hubungan. Dgn roki sudah serius.
Hej. Cheers. God bless sunshine. Good. Łuck. Ps. Show me every thing. And Talking. Whith me to much. Cheers.
I lived in new york city for a long time and had a chance to visit many good museums on the east coast. Also, I went to an art school where I talked to many different students with different identities.
What I realised quickly is that there is a popular demand for black art. Every known museum in NYC has a special exhibition that focuses on black artists or female artists and a bonus point from a black female artist. Whenever I go to Whitney’s top floor is most likely a black photographer taking black pictures of black neighbourhoods. So I had a chance to look at many black artists, both modern and 20th century. I have talked to them in the studio, read about it in the gallery, and listen to them talking on videos. They seem to be talking about black identities, like black culture, black sexuality, black discrimination, black voice, black parents, black history, black neighbourhood, etc.
I can’t name a single black artist that makes any other art than their identity. It seems that they trap themselves within their skin colour. For example, I have never seen a black artist painting a landscape or still life solely as exploring the medium or the subject. They have to slap black identity on it, and the art critics go wild. I am not saying that what they are doing is wrong. The interview on this video was fascinating to listen to. I have seen much good artwork from black communities; Jacob Lawerance’s artwork influenced me a lot. But one has to wonder, after loads and loads of black identity artwork, is there any other exploration other than their skin colour?
Sadly, you are so short sighted in your observation here ^^^
I agree with you. Can we get to a point where we look at the work of Arthur as we do Van Gogh? It is important to frame artworks in their culture and period but we can lose the individual human being. As a patron, I always prefer to let the artist define themselves and to attain diversity is to look for art without bias. Bias is often deeply conditioned.
@@yvanguillaume8975 help me elaborate with you. Because i try my best to be very careful about what i say and what i observe. Sharing your opinion to me why you disagree will really help me construct a better opinion towards modern art.
The way ppl view anything “Black” has be seen with a low ceiling. I believe his work along w/ other Black Artist is representing the idea of everything Black is global. From black culture to black neighborhoods, is global.
I suggest also looking into the strange economies in which the art world exists. Although you may see artists playing directy into it, playing into identity has been a key signifier in accruing a certain kind of cultural capital with the work that elevates it's value in our currently hot socio-political climate. Thus it can make things murky as to what the work can actually be responding to. Your statement isn't wrong but i'd say it's a multi-feathered bird lol.
Come to Korea bruv. Get a new outlook here.
I got you.
U somali?