Afrofuturism is an expansive term encompassing a whole movement of art, philosophy, activism, and more from across the African diaspora.

Afrofuturism asks questions like, what if the souls lost in the Trans-Atlantic Passage in fact survived and developed into a thriving underwater metropolis? (see Tau Lewis' fabric sculptures)...

...or, as in Octavia E. Butler's fantastical sci-fi novels, what can we learn about oppression, violence, sexuality, gender, and selfhood by imagining alternative versions of Earth?

Keep clicking for an introductory history of Afrofuturism and its interpretations, from its beginnings as a fringe literary genre to its current form as a mass, multidisciplinary, global movement.

1. Astral Jazz
Retroactively, cultural thinkers and critics have traced the beginnings of the Afrofuturist aesthetic back to the exploratory themes of later jazz movements in the 1970s.

Musicians such as Sun Ra began to draw links between ancient African traditions and the developing Space Age of the mid-20th century, exploring ideas of being 'alien' and 'other' through jazz with an 'astral' feel.

2. Literary Origins
This image is taken from an upcoming graphic novel by Damian Duffy and John Jennings which reimagines Octavia E. Butler's seminal 1993 novel, The Parable of the Sower, one of the founding works of the Afrofuturist movement. 

Butler and other black writers of the 1990s such as Robert R. Delaney turned to science fiction to explore themes of racial and social injustice. Sci-fi allowed for artistic liberation, but was also a critical space to explore structures of oppression in the real world.

The Parable of the Sower, for example (which has also been adapted into a contemporary music piece), is a post-apocalyptic novel following Lauren Olamina's struggle to lead a group of separatists to freedom in the face of inequality and racial oppression. 

The critic Mark Dery, in a 1993 interview with Delaney, Butler, musician Greg Tate, and writer Tricia Rose, coined the term 'Afrofuturism' to describe a growing crossover between "African-American themes" and "technoculture". The label was rejected by some, but adopted by others.

3. Visual Art
In the world of visual art, as well as in the world of music, the origins of Afrofuturism can be read back into artists working before the term was coined. Many see the beginnings of 21st century Afrofuturist art in the paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Basquiat's fusion of Yoruban folk traditions, jazz influences, graffiti, and 'high art' paved the way for the multimedia Afrofuturist movement in the visual arts.

Cyrus Kabiru's 'C-Stunners' tell a story of reclamation that looks towards the future, re-purposing trash to create futuristic, steampunk spectacles.

And Wangechi Mutu's sculpture and painting merges fantasy, horror, and surrealism to tell new stories about black bodies.