Facebook
Twitter
Google+
Email
“So much of Afro-American expressivity is bound up with surviving. There’s a weird internal tension always, between wanting to express how we actually feel, and also wanting to entertain.” —Arthur Jafa
Congratulations to Arthur Jafa (b. 1960, US; lives and works in Los Angeles), winner of the 2019 Golden Lion for the Best Participant in the primary exhibition at the Venice Biennale, May You Live In Interesting Times. Jafa was awarded for his 2019 film The White Album “which, in equal measure, is an essay, a poem and portraiture [using] appropriated and original footage to reflect upon the issue of race. Just as the film critiques a moment fraught with violence, in tenderly portraying the artist’s friends and family, it also speaks to our capacity for love.”
On May 30, 2019, the Sydney Opera House is hosting a viewing of Jafa’s highly acclaimed short film, Love is the Message, the Message is Death (2016) followed by a conversation with the artist, as part of their Vivid Live series. In advance of the screening, the SOH interviewed Jafa and produced this short film with highlights from the interview.
