Afro-Delic Surrealism #1-#6

Artist: Jaye Thompson

Afro-Delic Surrealism is an exploration in how Blackness in America is viewed and perceived, challenging outdated ideas purported by media in favor of vibrant, expressive imagery. This series was made with two intentions in mind ? first as a vehicle to experiment with Afro/Black centric expression through digital image making techniques, and secondly as an attempt to visually articulate the ethereal beauty of Blackness, something that is complex and multi-dimensional.  Each poster is 11''x17''.

(Extended) My thesis begins by referencing W.E.B. Dubois (1868-1963), a prominent African American sociologist, and his theory of double consciousness, a term used to describe the psychological challenge of ?always looking at one?s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one?s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity? (The Souls of Black Folk, 1903). This can be paraphrased as reconciling an African heritage with European upbringing ? that African Americans struggle with a multifaceted concept of self, continuously trying to appease the two cultures that make up their identity. For this reason each of the posters heavily relies on some sort of fracturing, distortion, or disruption to convey the concept of internal dissonance. I decided to take this as an opportunity to subvert Dubois? theory of double conscious so rather it being a psychological hindrance, it is merely an obstacle that one could be emancipated from so that solace is achieved. The concept of freeing one?s mind led me to researching psychedelic rock legend, Jimi Hendrix, a pillar of Black achievement who found acceptance across many audiences in America. In an interview with NME?s Keith Altham, Hendrix was quoted saying, ?You have to use fantasy to show different sides of reality?. This perfectly sums up my intention of creating this series which was to call attention to the portrayal of Black Americans and the false perceptions that are often wrongly asserted. I wanted these posters to have an immense impact and visually arrest people?s attention, as if the woman in the posters was screaming for you to see her not as a racial archetype, but as this otherworldly goddess who is unapologetically basking in her own Nirvana.