Afrolantica

The Afrolantica Series of Paintings is moderately influenced by a book authored by the late Dr. Derrick Bell, titled Afrolantica Legacies. In the book, Dr. Bell juxtaposed the mythical lost continent of Atlantis with Afrolantica, a place where African Americans could live, in a just society, in a place of beauty, with adequate resources, in peace and harmony and without fear. In describing Afrolantica he wrote, from afar, the beauty of its vistas offered immeasurable bounties”. He further enunciated “explorers from around the world, eager to claim this new land for their countries, learned, after near tragedies, that, try as they may, they could not survive in its heavy and oppressive atmosphere”.” Afrolantica appeared an appropriate name for the miraculous new land, following the discovery that only African Americans were able to breathe and survive there. The first black visitors reported a sense of well-being, a “euphoria of freedom” one called it, that they had never known in America.”

As an artist, I imagined Afrolantica as a state of bliss, a nirvana or paradise where maladies, such as high blood pressure and self-loathing and other insecurities that largely afflict African Americans would be eliminated by simply breathing the air. In my imagination this paradise also contained a plant life that was brilliant and abstract with colorful formations that defies traditional knowledge of any known vegetation. The Afrolantica series is my interpretation of plant life in this paradise.

It’s important to note that Dr. Bell, a deceased Law professor and noted author, used approaches like the above to teach students ethics and legal concepts. In his work he used a series of allegorical stories and encounters with fictional characters, and places, to shed light on some of the most perplexing and vexing issues of our day.

Afrolantica enabled me to imagine a world with-out white supremacy, and European concepts of God. A world where God is Love; where there are no prisons; where we can heal the PTSD-(Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ) of the Transatlantic Slave Trade; a place where we live the seven principles of MAAT Truth, Justice, Harmony, Balance, Order, Reciprocity

The Afrolantica florals are a reminder of this paradise.

Footnotes: MAAT- Represents the ethical and moral principle of ancient Kemetic (Egyptian) Civilization and every citizen was expected to follow them throughout their daily lives. They were expected to act with honor and truth in matters that involved family, the community, the nation, the environment and God.