El Futuro Es Ya: Calling Forward The Afrofuture
Photo by David Troncoso.
Alexis Mendoza’s El Futuro Es Ya exhibition at The Clemente Center on the Lower East Side is an Afrofuturist exploration of time and space. The artworks featured in Mendoza’s show span various mediums of sculpture, paintings, and screenprinting, presenting a vision of futurity that is inextricably linked to Black diasporic histories and present realities. A self-proclaimed “Cuban-born Bronxite,” Alexis Mendoza’s curation builds a bridge between the disparate experiences contained within the African diaspora and lays the foundation for what the Afrofuture might look like.
Composed of work from artists Anna Marie Abraz, Jane B. Arénalo Gonçalvez, Mildor Chevalier, Noel Copeland, A. W. Martínez-Arellano, Joseph A. Mendieta Silva, and Ezequiel Taveras, El Futuro Es Ya embodies the ontological theme of Afrofuturism as well as political and cultural themes of Black identity and aesthetics. The use of recycled and reclaimed materials throughout the exhibition work to build on themes of environmental and spatial awareness. While each individual piece in the show is not “futuristic” in the sense that they make use of cutting edge technology or design, every piece works together to immerse the viewer in an Afrofuturist ethos.
The exhibition occupies the LES Gallery at The Clemente and presents three vantage points for the viewer to interpret: the past, the present, and the future. Upon entering the gallery, my eyes first fixate on a pedestal situated in the center of the space. The object it holds is unassuming, something small enough to hold in your hand, but upon closer inspection, the object’s size and weight is made all the more resonant when I move closer and identify it as an unmistakable artifact of slavery—a single, rusty shackle. This installation piece by Jane B. Arénalo Gonçalvez physicalizes a history of exploitation which has categorized and continues to categorize much of the Afro Diasporic experience.
Victoria Collins (VC): What’s one thing that gets overlooked in the retelling of Black history in America?
Alexis Mendoza (AM): People think that just because we speak Spanish that we are not Black. Being Black has nothing to do with the language you speak. This is the language of the country that colonized my country. [Havana] Cuba was one of the biggest ports in the slave trade. We were one of the first stops. So, we are as connected to Africa as any African American.
Grounded in this acknowledgement of the history of the slave trade, I can then better understand the wall on which several small figurines are individually shelved. These figures, collected and presented by artist Anna Marie Abraz, work to expand the web of experiences of Afro-descendant peoples through handcrafted artifacts of stone, wood, and metal.
As I turn the corner of the space, I am transported through time. In front of me now on the far wall are photographs by A. W. Martínez-Arellano that depict the visages of Angela Davis and Malcolm X. The very faces of these figures—faces that evoke the spirits of the history’s fiercest freedom fighters—conjures the cultural memory and reality of the Black American struggle to reclaim their humanity in the aftermath of 400 years of slavery and subsequent social abnegation of Reconstruction and Jim Crow politics. Here arises another theme of Black liberation, which is also inherent in the political strivings of Angela and Malcolm. Through the exhibition’s curatorial design, a key realization is possible: the work of liberation is ever unfolding, finding torch bearers in the legacies of cultural workers and activists, past and present, who dared to challenge dominant social orders.
Pictured: "Angela 3, 2021", "Angela 2, 2021", "Malcolm 3, 2021", and Malcolm 2, 2021" Digital photography by A.W. Martinez-Arellano. Credit: David Troncoso.
On the wall to my right are three far-from-ordinary portraits by Noel Copeland. Miguel Trelles, co-curator and producer of the eMeLe-K Festival of which El Futuro es Ya is the featured exhibition, commented on the artist that produced these portraits. “Copeland is the Jamaican artist who produced those. His work is an example of using the past and present to create a vision of the future through the use of recycled materials.” Copeland’s portraits use recycled aluminum cans to craft the faces of three futuristic figures in his eye-catching portraits, harkening to the present state of the environment and speaking to the possibility of using the recycled raw materials to fashion a new vision of not only the world, but the way the world is popularly perceived. This is in fact the Afrofuturist ethos: the fashioning of newness from the remains of what once was.
Copeland’s Broken Promises is the featured image for the exhibition and offers a stunning social commentary that solidifies the viewer's sense that the Afrofuture is imminent. With the red and white metallic stripes and blue overlay in the background that evoke the imagery of the American flag, the artist implies that the United States is the perpetrator of these broken promises. In juxtaposition with the images of Angela and Malcolm, the notion of liberation in the face of and as a reaction to U.S. imperialism is made all the more palpable.
Photographed from left to right: "Brooklyn, 2019," "Blondie B, 2019," and "Broken Promises, 2019"—all works by Noel Copeland. Photo by David Troncoso.
The use of color throughout the exhibition is also noteworthy. Present not only in works by Noel Copeland, but also Joseph Silva and Mildor Chevalier, colors explode from the canvas. The richness of color is another clue as to what the Afrofuture may entail—a future that permits unrestricted expression and feeling.
AM: The use of color in my work is influenced by the Afro-Cuban practices of my home.
Making use of the vibrant, natural colorscape of his native Cuba, Mendoza’s art and creative style embody a visual interpretation that is uniquely rooted in diasporic traditions and experiences. In this way, the use of color throughout the exhibit calls upon diasporic aesthetic traditions that transcend space, place, and time—showing the viewer a glimpse of the vibrance that becomes possible in an Afrocentric vision of the future.
El Futuro Es Ya can be translated to The Future is Now. The title encapsulates the immediacy of the present moment and invites the viewer to queer their sense of time. What becomes evident is the presence of the past, present, and future coexisting all at the same time. These vantage points, though often considered separate, are but distinct sides of the same cosmic dice.
Acrylic on canvas artworks by Mildor Chevalier. From left to right: "Last Dream on Earth 2, 2019", "Wondering, 2018", "Insular Adventure, 2017." Photo by David Troncoso.
The vision behind eMeLe-K Festival more broadly seeks to connect the Afrofuturist sentiments most apparent in Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream'' speech as well as in King’s broader political vision. The eMeLe-K project is a heartfelt cultural homage to Dr. King's legacy and was curated for Teatro LATEA by former New York Public Librarian, LES community member, and author Rodger Taylor, and Miguel Trelles, co-Executive Director at LATEA. Initiated in 2018, Rodger Taylor sadly passed away after the 2019 edition. As a whole, the project continues to provide a forum where Afro-Latinos, African Americans and all who believe in Dr. King's example and respect his memory can actively engage in artistic exchanges that celebrate the Civil Rights movement in the US and the tremendous contributions that Afro-Latinos have made and continue to make in society.
Initially scheduled to take place in January, the festival was postponed due to COVID and will take place the week of February 21-27 at LATEA. It will also be available to livestream.
After leaving the exhibition, I am alive with the possibility for a vibrant future wherein the political and social liberation of all Afro-descendant people is realized.
Victoria R. Collins (she/they) is a queer, black, southern writer and educator born and bred of the clay soil of Mississippi, currently living and working in New York City. They hold an MFA in Nonfiction Creative Writing from The New School and tell stories that seek to render their human experience on the page in all its queerness and splendor. Victoria’s work has appeared in Bustle, Raising Mothers Magazine, Fatal Flaw Literary Magazine, and Black Youth Project, among others.