“The Archival Impulse: From the Deep with Ayana V. Jackson”
On October 28, thanks to Professors J.R. Osborne (Communication, Culture, and Technology Program), Kwame Edwin Otu (African Anthropology, SFS), and Lahra Smith, Georgetown hosted a talk by the renowned contemporary African American photographer and visual artist Ayana V. Jackson, whose solo exhibition From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya is on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art through January 6, 2025.
“The Archival Impulse: From the Deep with Ayana V. Jackson”
On October 28, thanks to Professors J.R. Osborne (Communication, Culture, and Technology Program), Kwame Edwin Otu (African Anthropology, SFS), and Lahra Smith, Georgetown hosted a talk by the renowned contemporary African American photographer and visual artist Ayana V. Jackson.
Ayana V. Jackson employs archival impulses to challenge the impacts of colonialism and the racialization and sexualization of Black bodies. Her solo exhibition From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya, which is currently on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, extends the impulse through the production of collaborative and multimedia artworks that reframe the memory and legacy of trans-Atlantic slavery. The exhibition weaves a rich tapestry that invokes ecological concerns, Afrofuturism, the histories of techno music, the transfer of technology and artistic traditions, and the cosmology of African water spirits.
Georgetown students visit Jackson’s exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art
In her talk, Jackson discussed how her “impulse” engages historical archives in order to suggest alternative and more just futures.
The event organizers also arranged two guided visits to Jackson’s exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art with dedicated docents for Georgetown students enrolled in various humanities classes.