Charting the Afrofuturist Imaginary in African American Art: The Black Female Fantastic

167 Pages·2022·21.826 MB·English

by  Elizabeth Carmel Hamilton

Charting the Afrofuturist Imaginary in
African American Art
This book examines Afrofuturism in African American art, focusing specifically on
images of black women and how those images expand the discourse of representation
in visual culture of the United States.
This volume defines a visual language of Afrofuturism that includes materiality,
temporality, and black liberation. Elizabeth Hamilton discusses the visual progenitors
of Afrofuturism. In the artworks of Pierre Bennu, Sanford Biggers, Alison Saar,
Mequitta Ahuja, Robert Pruitt, Renee Cox, Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Alma Thomas,
and Harriet Powers, the fantastic narratives of Afrofuturism are uncovered through
in-depth case studies. These case studies engage with Afrofuturism as a black feminist
visual theory that helps to unburden the images of black women from the
stereotypical visual scripts that are so common in contemporary visual culture of
the United States.
The book will be of interest to scholars working in art history, visual studies,
American literature, gender studies, popular culture, and African American studies.
Elizabeth Carmel Hamilton is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Culture
and Communications at Fort Valley State University.
Routledge Research in Art and Race
Routledge Research in Art and Race is a new series focusing on race as examined by
scholars working in the fields of art history and visual studies. Proposals for monographs
and edited collections on this topic are welcomed.
The Black Arts Movement and the Black Panther Party in American Visual Culture
Jo-Ann Morgan
Henry Ossawa Tanner
Art, Faith, Race, and Legacy
Naurice Frank Woods, Jr.
Race, Anthropology, and Politics in the Work of Wifredo Lam
Claude Cernuschi
Theodore Gericault, Painting Black Bodies
Confrontations and Contradictions
Albert Alhadeff
Travel, Art and Collecting in South Asia
Vertiginous Exchange
Natasha Eaton
Digital Mapping and Indigenous America
Edited by Janet Berry Hess
Imaging Migration in Post-War Britain
Artists of Chinese, Korean, Japanese and Taiwanese Heritage
Beccy Kennedy-Schtyk
Animality and Humanity in French Late Modern Representations of Black Femininity
Elodie Silberstein
For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Research-in-Art-and-Race/book-series/RRAR
Charting the Afrofuturist
Imaginary in African
American Art
The Black Female Fantastic
Elizabeth Carmel Hamilton
Cover image: Robert Pruitt, Free, 2011.Conté mixed media & gold leaf on hand
dyed paper, 50 × 38 in. Courtesy of the artist and Koplin Del Rio Gallery,
Seattle, WA.
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Elizabeth Carmel Hamilton
The right of Elizabeth Carmel Hamilton to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known
or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the
publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered
trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to
infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: Hamilton, Elizabeth Carmel, author.
Title: Charting the Afrofuturist imaginary in African American art : the black
female fantastic / Elizabeth Carmel Hamilton.
Description: New York : Routledge, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references
and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2022006233 (print) | LCCN 2022006234 (ebook) | ISBN
9780367689063 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367689094 (paperback) | ISBN
9781003139577 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: African American art--Themes, motives. | Afrofuturism. |
Women, Black, in art.
Classification: LCC N6538.B53 H36 2022 (print) | LCC N6538.B53 (ebook) |
DDC 700.89/96073--dc23/eng/20220521
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022006233
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022006234
ISBN: 978-0-367-68906-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-68909-4 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-13957-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003139577
Typeset in Sabon
by MPS Limited, Dehradun
Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Wyeth Foundation for
American Art Publication Fund of CAA.
For Judith Ann Teasley (1959–2011), Ruth Ellen Teasley
(1933–2008), and Annie Ruth Eberhart Marshall (1911–2008)

Contents
List of Figures viii
Acknowledgments xi
Preface: An Origin Story xiii
Introduction 1
1 Harriet Tubman’s (afro)Future 23
2 Narratives of Fugitivity: Black Feminist Futures in Art History 51
3 Mammy as (anti)Heroine 76
4 The Alchemy of Hair 105
Conclusion: The Black Female Fantastic 132
Index 146
Figures
0.1 Alma Thomas, A Glimpse of Mars, 1969. Acrylic on canvas, 28 ×
28 in. Private Collection. Courtesy of Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
LLC, New York, NY 2
0.2 Elizabeth C. Hamilton, The Visual Language of Afrofuturism, 2021. 4
0.3 Joseph T. Zealy, Delia, 1850. Quarter-plate daguerreotype in case.
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology,
Harvard University, 35-5-10/53040 6
0.4 Joseph T. Zealy, Drana, 1850. Quarter-plate daguerreotype in case.
Courtesy of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology,
Harvard University, 35-5-10/53041 7
1.1 Unidentified Artist, Phillis Wheatley (Frontispiece from Poems on
Various Subjects, Religious and Moral), 1773. Engraving on paper.
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution 25
1.2 John G. Darby, Harriet Tubman (Frontispiece from Scenes in the
Life of Harriet Tubman), c. 1868. Wood engraving on paper.
Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution 28
1.3 Alison Saar, Swing Low, Harriet Tubman Memorial, 2007. Bronze,
156 × 180 × 96 in. Located at 122nd and St Nicholas Pl, Harlem,
New York. © Alison Saar. Courtesy of L.A. Louver, Venice, CA, an
original work commissioned by the City of New York 34
1.4 Pierre Bennu, Black Moses Barbie (film still), 2011. Courtesy of the
artist 36
1.5 Sanford Biggers, Codex (installation detail), The Ringling Museum of
Art, Sarasota, FL. March 30–October 14, 2012. Courtesy of the artist 39
2.1 Harriet Powers, Bible Quilt, 1885–1886. Courtesy of the Division
of Cultural and Community Life, National Museum of American
History, Smithsonian Institution 53
2.2 Harriet Powers, Pictorial Quilt, 1898. Bequest of Maxim Karolik,
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 54
2.3 Unidentified Photographer, Portrait of Harriet Powers, c. 1897.
Photograph © Museum of Fine Arts, Boston 58
2.4 Alma Woodsey Thomas, Sketch for March on Washington, c. 1964.
Acrylic on canvas board, 18 × 24 in. Courtesy of The Columbus
Museum, Georgia. Gift of Miss John Maurice Thomas in memory of
her parents John H. and Amelia W. Cantey Thomas and her sister
Alma Woodsey Thomas 63
Figures ix
2.5 Alma Thomas, Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset, 1970. Acrylic
on canvas. Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift
of the Artist 65
2.6 Alma Thomas, Atmospheric Effects II, 1971. Watercolor on paper.
Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of Vincent
Melzac 66
2.7 Alma Thomas, The Eclipse, 1970. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of
the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gift of the Artist 67
2.8 Alma Thomas, Celestial Fantasy, 1973. Acrylic on canvas. Courtesy
of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Bequest of the Artist 68
3.1 Michael Ray Charles, (Forever Free Post) Wonder Woman, 1993.
Courtesy of the artist 87
3.2 Kara Walker, A Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby, an Homage
to the unpaid and overworked Artisans who have refined our Sweet
tastes from the cane fields to the Kitchens of the New World on the
Occasion of the demolition of the Domino Sugar Refining Plant,
2014. Polystyrene foam, sugar, Approx. 35.5 × 26 × 75.5 feet.
Installation view: Domino Sugar Refinery, A project of Creative
Time, Brooklyn, NY. 2014 Photo: Jason Wyche, Artwork © Kara
Walker. Courtesy of Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York 88
3.3 Dawolu Jabari Anderson, Mam-E, 2009. Latex, acrylic, and ink on
paper, 72 × 48 in. Courtesy of the artist 93
4.1 Ellen Gallagher, Pomp-Bang, 2003. Plasticine, ink, and paper
mounted on canvas, 96 × 192 in. Collection of the Museum of
Contemporary Art Chicago, Joseph and Jory Shapiro Fund by
exchange and restricted gift of Sara Szold, Photo: Nathan Keay, ©
MCA Chicago 112
4.2 (Cover Image) Robert Pruitt, Free, 2011. Conté mixed media &
gold leaf on hand-dyed paper, 50 × 38 in. Courtesy of the artist and
Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Seattle, WA 115
4.3 Robert Pruitt, Silk & Soul, 2007. Conté on Kraft paper, 71 ½ ×
56 ¾ in. Courtesy of the artist and Koplin Del Rio Gallery,
Seattle, WA 117
4.4 Fantastic Sagas, 2013, cover of graphic novel by Mat Johnson and
Robert Pruitt. Text and graphics by: Phillip Pyle, II, courtesy of the
artist and Koplin Del Rio Gallery, Seattle, WA 120
4.5 Mequitta Ahuja, Tress II, 2008. Waxy Chalk on Paper, 96 × 45 in.
Courtesy of the artist 122
4.6 Mequitta Ahuja, Tress IV, 2009. Waxy Chalk on Paper, 96 × 45 in.
Courtesy of the artist 123
4.7 Mequitta Ahuja, Spark, 2009. Waxy Chalk on Paper, 50 × 114 in.
Courtesy of the artist 124
C.1 Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Instructions for a Freedom, 2015.
Gouache, tea, watercolor, acrylic, and marker on paper, 42 × 96
in. Courtesy of the artist 137
C.2 Amaryllis DeJesus Moleski, Weave (for spell), 2015. Synthetic hair,
black thread, jacquard loom, carved wood, interference paint, 37 ×
40 in. Courtesy of the artist 138