“Although many Indigenous artists use positionality to ground their work within a cultural and geographical context, Manuel Axel Strain takes this to another level, immersing us in a reality beyond oppressive structures.”
40.2
“Meyer concocted a kind of Stampede inversion: “an equine-focussed spectacle, but with the humans performing for the horses, while sharing space.” […] the evidence of what transgressed is shared very minimally in DEEP HORSE TEXTS—appearing only in reference or grainy disposable-cam contact sheets.”
“DIY spaces exist as vital but fleeting moments in time to create new creative networks, learn and engage with cultural production. […] Because let’s be honest, the most important thing about DIY space is the community you can create around it.”
“Her breadth of temporality, technique and geography allow her work to be rendered as capacious and palpable to many, yet deeply distinct and tethered to particular places and times. In Clark’s visual grammar, the metaphoric and literal are quilted, and quotidian material is alchemized into perfect memory of the personal historical.”
“Ishaq’s multidisciplinary practice considers time as a spiritual, multi-dimensional and abundant realm wherein personal and collective expansion is possible […] In her work, Blackness is never static; it is a galaxy.”
“What’s left when an individual is undervalued, underpaid, unsupported and unappreciated? When there is high turnover in talent, what happens to the arts, and how can we fix this damaging colonial structure?”
“DO I INTIMIDATE?” started as an anthropology research question for my university classes. In a series of ten interviews, I asked elders and youths in my Yoruba Community how it felt to wear their traditional attire in public.
“In my mind, a potent image of my late father involves a computer. He’s staring at the blue-white glow of his CRT monitor, sitting in his wheelchair, turned away from me. The visual memory eclipses his face. In an uncanny parallel, I look at a screen whenever I want to remind myself of his features. In both circumstances, a digital display facilitates remembering.”
“This issue marks a transition in BlackFlash’s 40-year publishing history. Our fall 2023 issue is the last commissioned by our former managing editor Maxine Proctor in collaboration with our editorial committee. It is also (as transitions go) the first produced in collaboration with our new managing editor, Jasmin Fookes.”