"It is Nation time and we are searching."
-AFRICOBRA
AFRICOBRA – AFRICAN COMMUNE OF BAD RELEVANT ARTISTS
It is Nation time and we are searching. In the spirit of Nation-ness we are examining the rootsand branches of our African family tree for the seeable which is the most expressive of our people/art. We are trying to make images inspired by sublimely SuPerreal African people/experience in the USA. Images that all African people can dig on directly. Images that jar the senses and cause movement. Poster art. Images designed for mass production. Inexpensive. We want everybody to have some. All the SuPerreal people.
We invite you to view our work. You, SuPerreal African people, are our standard for excellence. Only you can determine the hipness of our observation/vibrations. We invite you to judge our efforts. If we are moving in the right direction we would appreciate hearing from you. If we are moving in the wrong direction, a coat-pill would likewise be appreciated.
Come see us. Got something for you.
-AFRICOBRA 1: Ten in Search of a Nation at the Studio Museum in Harlem, 1970
Exhibition matierials, AFRICOBRA 1: Ten in Search of a Nation, 1970. The Studio Museum in Harlem.
ABOUT
AFRICOBRA (the African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) was an artist collective formed on the South Side of Chicago in 1968 that helped define the visual language of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 70s. Founded by Gerald Williams, Wadsworth Jarrell, Jae Jarrell, Barbara Jones-Hogu, and Jeff Donaldson, the group met reguarly to discuss the topic of transnational Black aesthetics. They published their manifesto, Ten in Search of a Nation, in 1969 and soon after began a series of traveling exhibitions. The first, AFRICOBRA 1: Ten in Search of a Nation, debuted at the Studio Museum in Harlem in 1970.
