Video artist Arthur Jafa on actualizing Black potential, part 1

I don't want to be the prisoner in a box, even if it's a box I made. For over 30 years, American visual artist and cinematographer Arthur Jafa has captured the histories and experiences of Black Americans with projects that exemplify both the universal and particular facets of Black life. In this masterclass in Black thought — the first episode in a two-part series — Jafa shares a free-from improvisation through his breadth of knowledge and understanding of visual culture — embedded with all the references, rhetorics, and personal reflections of someone who has spent a lifetime dedicated to centralizing the varied experiences of Black Being.   Charlie Parker John Coltrane Ornette Coleman Culture Strike Laura Raicovich Christina Sharpe Hortense Spillers Ultralight Beam - Kanye West  Love is the Message, The Message is Death - Arthur Jafa John Henrik Clark Jean-Michel Basquiat Jimi Hendrix Cecil Taylor AGHDRA Women in Love Burnt Sugar Butch Morris Muddy Waters Carl Hancock Rux Virgil Abloh LMVH Off-White  

Om Podcasten

Artist, performer, and host Helga Davis brings a soulful curiosity and love of people to the podcast Helga, where she talks about the intimate lives of creative people as they share the steps they’ve taken along their path. She draws listeners into these discussions with cultural change-makers, whether already famous or rising talents, whose sensibilities expand our imaginations as we explore what we think we know about each other. The new season of Helga is a co-production of WNYC Studios and the Brown Arts Institute at Brown University. WNYC Studios is a listener-supported producer of other leading podcasts including Radiolab, On the Media, and Death, Sex & Money. The Brown Arts Institute at Brown University is a new university-wide research enterprise and catalyst for the arts at Brown that creates new work and supports, amplifies, and adds new dimensions to the creative practices of Brown’s arts departments, faculty, students, and community.