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Arthur Jafa
Arthur Jafa (/ˈdʒeɪfə/; born Arthur Jafa Fielder, November 30, 1960) is an American video artist and cinematographer.
Jafa was born on November 30, 1960, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi, which was highly segregated at the time. His parents were both educators and Jafa was raised Catholic.
As a child, Jafa assembled binders full of found images in collections he called "the books." He also grew up watching television shows like I Spy, and science fiction programs.
Jafa studied architecture and film at Howard University, including with professor Dr. Abiyi Ford, before moving to Atlanta, Georgia.
The science fiction programs Jafa watched as a child have informed his artistic practice as an adult, as seen in his self-portrait LeRage (2017). His work is also inspired by his interest in jazz musician Miles Davis.
He has exhibited at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Julia Stoschek Collection, as well as many others. He has worked as a cinematographer with directors Julie Dash and Spike Lee. His work on Dash's Daughters of the Dust (1991) won the "Best Cinematography" Award at Sundance. He also was an assistant photographer for Eyes Wide Shut.
His seven-minute video essay Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the High Museum of Art. Set to Kanye West's song Ultralight Beam, the work consists of a series of found images and video clips depicting a range of Black American experiences throughout history which establishes that the black experience is not monolithic, every experience is unique. Among many other clips exploring African American life and resiliency, the video essay juxtaposes recordings of police violence and footage from the Civil Rights Movement with clips of Black artistry, pop culture, celebration, and creativity. Jafa himself has connected the ethos of the work with his Catholic roots and Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. On Friday, June 26, 2020, 13 museums in 7 countries pledged, with Jafa's blessing, to stream the work for free on their respective websites for 48 hours. Frieze named the work No.12 of "The 25 Best Works of the 21st Century".
Jafa also has worked on a number of music videos and was the director of photography on videos for Solange's Don't Touch My Hair and Cranes in the Sky. He was included in the 2017 ArtReview Power 100 list.
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Arthur Jafa
Arthur Jafa (/ˈdʒeɪfə/; born Arthur Jafa Fielder, November 30, 1960) is an American video artist and cinematographer.
Jafa was born on November 30, 1960, in Tupelo, Mississippi, and raised in Clarksdale, Mississippi, which was highly segregated at the time. His parents were both educators and Jafa was raised Catholic.
As a child, Jafa assembled binders full of found images in collections he called "the books." He also grew up watching television shows like I Spy, and science fiction programs.
Jafa studied architecture and film at Howard University, including with professor Dr. Abiyi Ford, before moving to Atlanta, Georgia.
The science fiction programs Jafa watched as a child have informed his artistic practice as an adult, as seen in his self-portrait LeRage (2017). His work is also inspired by his interest in jazz musician Miles Davis.
He has exhibited at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and the Julia Stoschek Collection, as well as many others. He has worked as a cinematographer with directors Julie Dash and Spike Lee. His work on Dash's Daughters of the Dust (1991) won the "Best Cinematography" Award at Sundance. He also was an assistant photographer for Eyes Wide Shut.
His seven-minute video essay Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death is in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the High Museum of Art. Set to Kanye West's song Ultralight Beam, the work consists of a series of found images and video clips depicting a range of Black American experiences throughout history which establishes that the black experience is not monolithic, every experience is unique. Among many other clips exploring African American life and resiliency, the video essay juxtaposes recordings of police violence and footage from the Civil Rights Movement with clips of Black artistry, pop culture, celebration, and creativity. Jafa himself has connected the ethos of the work with his Catholic roots and Gian Lorenzo Bernini's Ecstasy of Saint Teresa. On Friday, June 26, 2020, 13 museums in 7 countries pledged, with Jafa's blessing, to stream the work for free on their respective websites for 48 hours. Frieze named the work No.12 of "The 25 Best Works of the 21st Century".
Jafa also has worked on a number of music videos and was the director of photography on videos for Solange's Don't Touch My Hair and Cranes in the Sky. He was included in the 2017 ArtReview Power 100 list.