鈥淭he possible has been tried and failed. Now it’s time to try the impossible,鈥 so said Sun Ra (1914-1993), the avant-garde Jazz musician and visionary whose philosophy of progress continues to inspire generations of creatives. Now, Sun Ra is recognised as a pioneer of Afrofuturism: a cultural movement combining science fiction, history and fantasy to explore experiences of the African diaspora 鈥 past, present and future. Amongst today鈥檚 artists working with this legacy is Darryl DeAngelo Terrell (b. 1991).
Darryl DeAngelo Terrell’s photoseries A Way to Get Gone features in the exhibition Let Them Roam Freely at NXTHVN art space, New Haven, curated by Marissa Del Toro and Jamillah Hinson. Terrell鈥檚 practice poses questions about 鈥渉ow Black people get gone from the presence of whiteness, which infiltrates space and causes harm.鈥 The images are accompanied by an audio collage which includes a monologue from Sun Ra鈥檚 1972 film Space is the Place, in which the musician lands on a new planet in outer space.
Terrell鈥檚 process involves creating 鈥減ortals鈥 through a mixture of performance and lens-based trickery. Flashes of glittering light are created as the artist, dressed in a gold sequinned garment, enacts joyful dance routines in front of a slow-exposure lens鈥攕o that only a spectral outline of body and movement remains. Equal parts intermedia happenings and works of conceptual photography, Terrell鈥檚 portals are envisaged as escape routes from locations that are historically鈥攁nd presently鈥攍oaded with the violence of white supremacy. Previous 鈥減ortal鈥 sites of Terrell鈥檚 include Detroit鈥檚 Black Bottom neighbourhood, where many African Americans settled during the Great Migration. In the 1950s and early 1960s, city authorities bulldozed the area to construct an interstate highway, violently breaking apart the community.
Terrell has also created portals in Senegal, West Africa, at a launching point for transatlantic slave ships, incorporating water into the process to connect with ideas of Black spiritual practice and ancestry. As part of a newly commissioned work for the NXTHVN exhibit, the artist鈥檚 research has led them to learn about the Black Panther movement in New Haven during the 1960s-1970s. The corresponding portal exists in proximity to the party鈥檚 former headquarters, with similar works planned for New York and Chicago.
Let Them Roam Freely runs at NXTHVN until 15 May. Find out more .
Words: Greg Thomas
Image Credits:
1. 6oN 13o45鈥21鈥漀 17o29鈥36鈥漌 Dakar, Senegal, 202124 x 36 in. Digital Photography. Courtesy of NXTHVN.
2. 279掳W 42掳21鈥39鈥 N 83掳2鈥20鈥漌 Detroit, MI, 2020 24 x 36 in. Digital photography. Courtesy of NXTHVN.
3. 247o SW – 42o21’27” N 83o2’34″W Detroit, MI, 2020 24 x36 in.Digital PhotographyCourtesy of NXTHVN
