Arthur Jafa began as an under the radar but sought after film maker. He was the cinematographer for films such as 'Daughters of the dusk' 1991 and 'Crooklyn' 1994, and in 2016 he was invited by the Hammer Museum to display a selection of items from his personal collection of historical and cultural images in a part of the museums 'Made in LA show'. As an artists Jafa uses a variety of media including 2D and 3D but his main form is filmic essays, using a vast cultural library of images and videos. Music is also something that is essential in gaffs work and he often references the historic music to convey his ideas about Blackness and Jafas race and culture play a huge role in his films and artwork. And he is always ready to talk about his relationships with race and the affect and portrayal of race within art.
What I took away from this interview is that as an artist it is important to be in tune and connected with who you are as a person and your culture, you need to be able to question and critically analyse the world around you and the way you grew up. It is important as an artists to be able to talk about and explore the more serious issues that come with things like race and gender and you have to be open minded and ready to learn.
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