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Bringing Unseen Worlds to Light: Interview with Fine Artist Fabiola Jean-Louis

Fabiola Jean-Louis is a fine artist and photographer currently based out of Brooklyn, N.Y., whose imagery seamlessly blends magic with the mundane and reality with the speculative to bring unseen worlds out of hiding. Jean-Louis renders her portraits in such a way that it is often difficult to tell whether you are looking at something …

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A New Wave of Black Filmmaking: Experimental and Black Speculative Indie Films

In recent years, it has become relatively easier to produce your own short films, TV shows, commercials and music videos. Increased access to technology and platforms on which to display films, such as smartphones, YouTube and Vimeo, and alternative resources for funding to create these films, such as crowdfunding and small artists grants, have ushered in a …

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Blerd Bookstore Struggle: Science Fiction vs. African-American Literature

Visiting a bookstore can sometimes be a struggle for a Black nerd, simply because of the way books are categorized. Whenever I step inside of a bookstore, my first stop is always the science fiction section. Routinely, I’ll do a scan for my favorite Black science fiction authors, and nine times out of 10, Octavia Butler, …

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Black Speculative Tech – Uses of Technology in Black Science Fiction, Part 1

I’ve always considered the term “science fiction,” as applied to writing, film and other speculative media involving scientific concerns, to be somewhat inadequate. It has always seemed to me that the worlds created within the pages or upon the screen are literally written into existence, brought to life, fully functioning and self-sustaining in the imaginations …

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8 Books of Critical Analysis and Essays on Black Speculative, Science Fiction, Superheroes and Horror

Books of critical analysis and essays on Black speculative, science fiction, superheroes and horror: 1. Black Comics: Politics of Race and Representation edited by Sheena C. Howard and Ronald L. Jackson II (2013) is an analytic history of the diverse contributions of Black artists to the medium of comics. Covering comic books, superhero comics, graphic …

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Using Afrofuturism to Power New Modes of Tech – Interview with Blogger Sherese Francis (Futuristically Ancient)

“Because the mask is your face, the face is a mask, so I’m thinking of the face as a mask because of the way I see faces is coming from an African vision of the mask which is the thing that we carry around with us, it is our presentation, it’s our front, it’s our …

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Broadcast by Blerds: New Technology Drives DIY Radio, TV

The dawn of podcasts (the digital medium of episodic audio-recordings that can be downloaded or streamed online) circa 2004, ushered in a new era of independently owned and produced media. Podcasts, a mash-up between the words “broadcast” and “pod,” of iPod fame, have become a popular platform for marginalized voices. Essentially only requiring a recording …

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