Arthur Jafa on Miles Davis, Cowboy Boots, and Black Life in America | Fashion Neurosis

Video Description

Arthur Jafa is an American artist. Raised in Mississippi, he studied architecture and film at Howard University, and has been working as a filmmaker and artist for over four decades. He has had a successful career as a cinematographer, working on films including his ex-wife Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust, Spike Lee’s Crooklyn, and Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. Jafa has also directed music videos for musicians including Solange and Jay-Z. In 2005, Jafa stepped away from the art world for a while, re-emerging in 2016 with his spectacular work of video art Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, which combined and edited disparate found and original footage documenting the Black experience in America. Other notable video works include The White Album from 2018, which won the Golden Lion for best artist at the Venice Biennale. Arthur Jafa’s extended practice is widely considered to be at the forefront of contemporary art, independent film and cultural theory today. Witnessing, celebrating and cataloguing the deep soul of Black life through images, Jafa has forged a groundbreaking trail in the rich terrain of Black representation. In his show at Sadie Coles HQ Gallery, Kingly St in London, on until December, Jafa exhibits new paintings and collage, alongside two new video works. In this episode of Fashion Neurosis, Bella Freud and Arthur Jafa discuss checking Instagram first thing in the morning, wanting to frown like Roy Rogers, and the universal influence of James Brown. Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. 00:00:00 Advertisement for Claude AI 00:00:38 Introduction 00:01:00 What are you wearing today? 00:02:45 Transposing 00:06:57 Astrology 00:11:30 Collecting images 00:18:10 Siblings and childhood 00:26:07 Advertisement for Claude AI 00:27:30 Childhood 00:28:36 Childhood clothing obsessions 00:29:45 Trust 00:46:22 Favourite films and directors 00:49:00 Advertisement for Claude AI 00:50:18 Miles Davis 00:52:55 Love is the Message, the Message is Death 00:57:45 Sentimentality and black culture 01:02:10 Wearing makeup 01:04:10 If you fancy someone… 01:14:10 Fashion magazines 01:14:57 Favourite designers 01:18:45 Outro 01:19:45 Advertisement for Claude AI