Injustice to a black man

While the United States reverberates with violence over the injustice done to a black man, George Floyd, who died as a result of the racism of a police officer in Minneapolis who believed he had the right to take another man’s life, and at a time when this country is just as violently subject to the devastating stupidity of a man considered to be one of the most powerful figures in the world, the president of the United States, and while violent people profit from the commotion to carry out massive acts of destruction across the country, it is worth listening again to the words of a great artist who has been clearsighted on the black experience in the United States and whom I first interviewed in 2017, Arthur Jafa.

I have since interviewed him again (see here and here). These are his highly articulate thoughts on what it means to be black in the United States.

Arthur Jafa

Genius of the moving image

He’s a genius in the recent history of the moving image, and his vision in the film“Love is the message, the message is death” (2016) leaves no viewer unscathed.

The short extracts  which could be available to watch online give nothing away compared to the powerful impact of seeing it on the big screen, immersed in the accompanying music by Kanye West.

(All the video extracts that I filmed myself in the screening room have been censured by YouTube on account of copyright infringement.)

Illegitimate product of the West

Arthur Jafa’s subject is simple and the way in which he approaches it is innovative. His subject is the black experience in the United States and, as he clearly states, he wants to speak directly to black Americans.

“We are illegitimate products of the West,” he says frankly, “We are descendants of Africans. We are bastards. In a society where one either takes the position of object or of subject, we are in between the two, situated between the classical object and the classical subject.”

Arthur Jafa

Arthur Jafa has gone on to sell his artworks to big institutions, such as the Met in New York in 2017.

The true measure of Arthur Jafa’s mastery is in the cadence he brings to the unity of sound and image.

Sonic tonality of images

The university professor Tina M Campt recalls how: “When I met Arthur Jafa for the first time in autumn 2016, we discovered that we share a common obsession: a deep and abiding investment in the vibration, frequency and sonic tonality of images.

“Black cinema with the power, beauty and alienation of black music (…) That insistent question – how to develop the sonic and musical intonation of film with the cinematic capacity to fully render the black experience – is one that Jafa pursues in his artistic practice as a quest to capture the visual frequency of Black life.”

Arthur Jafa

Arthur Jafa eloquently explained to me how during the past enslavement of the black population of the United States, it is music alone that has been able to occupy a privileged space, unlike other disciplines such as, for example, architecture or painting, and that going forward this aesthetic must be updated.

He says that his work is aimed at black people.

This is because “generally, 99% of ideas are developed by white men.

Consequently, they haven’t had to use their ability to put themselves in another person’s skin.

It’s like when Eric Clapton wrote Layla. It’s addressed to just one woman, but other people can still listen to it. And in my case, I’m addressing black people.”

He explains:

Lastly, I ask him if he sees the art world becoming more open to the creations of black Americans.

This is his response:

We should watch Arthur Jafa’s work because he carries with him a new kind of aesthetic, one which pushes the viewer to a certain level of elation.

We should listen to Arthur Jafa because he carries with him words that are radical, and necessary.

“I’m tryna keep my faith / We on ultralight beam / we on a ultralight beam / This is a God dream / this is everything… / Im tryna keep my faith / But Im looking for more / Somewhere I can feel safe / and end my holy war / Im tryna keep my faith.”

Kanye West “Ultralight Beam” audio spine for Arthur Jafa’s “Love is the message, the message is death”. (2016).