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The Cultural Frontline: What next for Afrofuturism?

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What next for Afrofuturism?

18/06/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - The Cultural Frontline, What next for Afrofuturism?

We meet the next generation of Afrofuturism-inspired artists

Rapper Lous and the Yakuza, fashion designer Adebayo Oke Lawal, filmmakers Sharon Lewis and Dimeji Ajibola and poet Gary Jackson

This week we’re exploring Afrofuturism, the movement that blends fantasy, folklore and technology, to imagine a new future for African nations and people of African heritage. Four years after the smash hit movie Black Panther turned Afrofuturism into an unstoppable artistic force globally we’re asking: what’s next?

We meet the next generation of Afrofuturism-inspired artists, with Congolese-Rwandan-Belgian rapper Lous and the Yakuza, who’s just been signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label and Nigerian fashion designer Adebayo Oke Lawal who recently dressed the new Doctor Who actor Ncuti Gatwa in Afrofuturist couture.

Plus filmmakers Sharon Lewis and Dimeji Ajibola on the challenges of making Afrofuturist movies in Canada and Nigeria.

And American poet Gary Jackson discusses the recent anthology of ‘superhero poetry’ he has co-edited called The Future of Black, showcasing a new literary sub-genre inspired by Afrofuturism’s love for comic book stories.


Presenter: Tina Daheley
Producers: Simon Richardson and Laura Northedge

(Photo: Lous and the Yakuza. Credit: Charlotte Wales)

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