Barker Center, Room 133
This presentation examines the ways in which musicians, visual artists, dancers, and Afrofuturists reconcile the symbols and the ideology of an ancient African (Kongo) symbol called a cosmogram. Dr. Nettrice Gaskins will juxtapose recurring motifs such as the Ring Shout with themes and ideas found in albums and songs by Robert Johnson, Memphis Minnie, P-Funk, Earth, Wind & Fire, and others. This presentation’s exploration of musical Afrofuturism and the African Cosmogram Matrix is part of the Musics Abroad Seminar’s 2024-2025 focus on music and other-world making in the African Diaspora.
Bio:
Dr. Nettrice Gaskins is an African American digital artist, educator, academic, and cultural critic. In her work, she explores Afrofuturism and “techno-vernacular creativity,” or TVC for short. She earned a BFA in Computer Graphics from Pratt Institute in 1992, and an MFA in Art and Technology from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1994. She received a doctorate in Digital Media from Georgia Institute of Technology in 2014. Currently, Dr. Gaskins is the assistant director of the Lesley STEAM Learning Lab at Lesley University in Cambridge MA.
Visit the Mahindra Humanities Center website for more information.