Akua Afari - 'The Constellations We Are'
The work is called ‘The Constellations We Are’ and takes off from the Sarah Bonetta Forbes 2005 exhibition works and story in exploring the wider themes of Black displacement and movement, and how Black life thrives in spite of this and the distances placed between its people and their land — how within the Black Diaspora strong connections are kept throughout the globe. ‘The Constellations We Are’ presents images and text marking these connections.
In these works, Akua Afari perceives an updated take on Gwendolyn Brooks’ most famous poem We Real Cool, with images, transmuting the original mood of outcasts at a pool hall to themes of group belonging and group connection and reconnection. Rather than questioning the validity of their existence as the poem signifies, the works here are meant to affirm, magnify and celebrate this existence. Brooks mentions the poem was written wondering how a group of school aged Black boys felt about themselves, the vision here is to present a bold affirmative response.
Each work being a different size and the arrangement of the pieces plays on the idea of a family wall of photos and the relationships of families and friends, and the connection where different parts form a group and yet each is individual. The aim is for the viewer to feel there is a thread that connects both visibly and in less tangible, but no less significant, ways.
