Sophia Nahli Allison, New Galaxies from the self-portrait series Dreaming Gave Us Wings, 2017-present. Courtesy of the artist.
Introduction
Black Flyyy
In Black Flyyy, six short films and videos by artists including Sophia Nahli Allison, Bree Newsome Bass, and Charles Burnett explore self-revelation, craft, legacy, and ancestral knowledge(s) in ways that center Black narratives and challenge white cultural hegemony. These dreamlike meditations consider cultural traditions of and from the African Diaspora related to the meaning of the word fly, focusing on style and originality and making reference to stories of human flight or return to homelands. From stories that undermine stereotypes of Black abjection to Afrofuturist provocations that reimagine memory, these works engage themes of movement, imagination, transcendence, spirituality, and the supernatural.
Curated by Anita N. Bateman, Ph.D.
Former Andrew W. Mellon Curatorial Fellow
Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs
RISD Museum is supported by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and with the generous partnership of the Rhode Island School of Design, its Board of Trustees, and Museum Governors.
