"Watching the film is like leafing through the book, as images stream by onscreen, accompanied by a title card and a page number. Figures and concepts like Marcus Garvey (page 63), Harlem (page 100) and Sun Ra (page 333) are illustrated with clips from stock footage and archival photos, as well as memes, TikTok clips and academic panel discussions pulled from YouTube."
"The soundtrack includes music, poems, voiceover and interview, and cuts forge synaptic pathways between images from sources both well-known and obscure: a clipping of Doreen St. Felix's New Yorker on Alexandra Bell's political photomontages, a scene from Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (1999), an overhead view of Nicholas Galanin's environmental installation Never Forget (2021), a picture of Breonna Taylor, video of teenagers popping wheelies, faded newsreels of the riverboats of the Mississippi, crumpled old photos of Black soldiers of the First World War."
BLKNWS is an evolving multi-channel installation and film that draws on Encyclopedia Africana as a conceptual spine. Images stream onscreen with title cards and page numbers, juxtaposing figures and concepts—Marcus Garvey, Harlem, Sun Ra—through stock footage, archival photos, memes, TikTok clips and academic panel clips. The soundtrack layers music, poetry, voiceover and interviews, creating associative cuts that link well-known and obscure sources. The work intentionally overwhelms to prevent complete conscious assimilation while forging synaptic connections across time and media. Additional layers present BLKNWS as an alternative news outlet with speculative news tickers and semifictional investigative elements.
Read at The Art Newspaper - International art news and events
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