Notebooks, 1980 - 2007
Information about the artwork
- MaterialNewspaper clippings in plastic sleeves, in three-ring binders, sticky notes, ballpoint pen, felt-tip pen
- Year of acquisition2019
- Inventory numberUAB 1235 1/5, UAB 1235 2/5, UAB 1235 3/5, show all
- On viewOn view
- Copyright© Arthur Jafa. Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Gallery. Photo: Dirk Tacke, Museum Brandhorst, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Munich
More about the artwork
The “Notebooks” by Arthur Jafa are collections of images that interrelate material from a wide range of sources. Jafa works according to the principle of “affective proximity”—a term coined by the British artist John Akomfrah (b. 1957) which describes how bringing together disparate materials can be simultaneously tense, contradictory, productive, and moving. The pairings of people, objects, and events in the “Notebooks” form a visual meditation on a distinctly Black aesthetic and cultural history. In doing so, Jafa reveals the complex and ambivalent representation of Black identity within a predominantly white context, while also opening up perspectives on the diversity, beauty, and historical depth of Black cultural production—which has often been appropriated by white audiences under the assumption of their own superiority, with little regard for authorship. In this way, Jafa highlights the role of Black culture not only in its autonomy but also as a precursor to the white cultural canon.
