Arthur Jafa

Arthur Jafa is a polymathic artist, filmmaker, and cinematographer who has invented a new video genre. Over the past three decades, Jafa has boldly confronted the relationship between visual culture and Blackness in his works. Often drawing content from an archive of images and video clips culled from popular magazines, books, media, and digital platforms like YouTube, Jafa embraces a complex approach to authorship and legitimacy. The visual experiences he creates seek to, in his words, "replicate the power, beauty, and alienation of black music." Jafa has exhibited his work at film festivals and art institutions worldwide. He was the cinematographer on Spike Lee's Crooklyn (1994) and Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust (1991 ), as well as director of photography on Solange Knowles's music videos Don't Touch My Hair (2016) and Cranes in the Sky (2016). Jafa is perhaps best known for, Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death (2016), a seven-minute video set to Kanye West's "Ultralight Beam." He received the Golden Lion Award at the 58th Venice Biennale (2019) as well as the Herb Alpert Award in the Arts (2019), and Best Documentary Feature award (2015) for his film Dreams are Colder than Death (2014) at the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia. In 2013 he cofounded the film studio TNEG LLC.