Description of Event
In Conversation: The Black Aesthetic, 1971-2019
This interview and public forum discusses the progress of society and black art in relation to The Black Aesthetic, first published in 1971.
Interviewer: Rebecka Jackson - Independent Film Producer
Interviewee: Niyi Coker -Director of the School of Theatre, Television, and Film @ SDSU
The Black Aesthetic was a seminal texts that was composed of a series of essays from the most prominent black writers, musicians, artists and poets. It included definitions and explorations of what black art was and was becoming with lengthy critiques on society, racism and art as a whole. Many of the artists I have chosen to interview from this series were training or working at the time of The Black Aesthetic’s publication and were influenced by its contributors in their own professional careers. Others are younger artists who are now grappling with many of the same issues from 1971. As many of these issues have been exacerbated rather than attrited; What, if anything, is the black aesthetic of 2019?