![]() Our work uses digital tools (namely technology) to represent and interpret works from the continent (that is, physical space) through a virtual story map, a visualization website that blends narrative and geographic data, enabling us to both reconstruct and problematize the routes through which a group of sculptures arrived in Philadelphia. Africanfuturism and Afrofuturism share some commonalities as speculative practices for African and African-descended people, but the former can operate as a critique of the latter, which often promotes a romanticized version of the African continent above the lived and historical experiences of people who exist and have existed in that geographical region. ![]() 2 Our approach is also aligned with Africanfuturism, defined by American Studies scholar Lidia Kniaź as “more future-oriented, focused on implementations of real technologies to improve the economic and political shape of tomorrow’s Africa rather than reassessing the past and contemplating contemporary American issues.” 3 We acknowledge that we are not directly engaging with individuals on the continent in our work on this project, but we do aim to use our positions as individuals connected to the PMA through term-limited fellowships to advocate for an antiracist approach to art-historical praxis that decenters Eurocentric narratives in favor of underscoring the Africanness of each sculpture. ![]() 1 Combining art-historical research with a mapping visualization seen through an Afrofuturist lens, we have created an interactive digital exhibition that directly grapples with colonial archives to center African makers, reaching scholarly and general audiences both locally and internationally.ĭeparting from popular notions of a “Black science fictional aesthetic,” we employ a conceptual framework rooted in what cultural critic Mark Dery terms “Afrofuturism,” which I (Smith) define as a reimagining of time and space through fantasy or technology in order to speculate about the future. The exhibition Philly Necrofutures is a collaboration between Synatra Smith and Hilary Whitham Sánchez to address the lacuna in public and scholarly knowledge around the western and central African artworks held at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA). ![]() PDF: Whitham Sanchez & Smith, Philly Necrofutures ![]()
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