Exploring Afrofuturism: Black Artists Featured In 4 Shows Across The East End
With February on the horizon and Black History Month soon to begin, exhibitions and cultural programs abound that pay tribute to the many contributions African Americans have made to the country and society at large. But in designing a Black History Month exhibition for the East End, gallery owner Julie Keyes, who counts many African American collectors among her clients, looked to do something a bit more expansive, creative and thought-provoking to highlight the work of Black artists in light of social justice movements that have gained traction in recent years. So Keyes joined forces with Eden Williams, daughter of Sag Harbor residents and avid art collectors E.T. and Lyn Williams, to curate a series of four shows across the region offering a cross-section of work by some of the most dynamic African American artists working on the scene today. As Williams notes, the goal of the Afrofuturism exhibitions is to honor abstract Black painters who have broken out of the mold and have removed the heavy race-themed narrative of politics and struggle from their work in order to paint about life in abstraction. “We can reimagine a world in the future where more and more Black painters are not bound to race narratives and the burden of representing one element of the ‘Black experience’ in order to be seen and heard,” Williams noted.
