A Select Timeline for the Age of Black Power

On view on the first floor, Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power celebrates the dynamic contributions of Black artists during a pivotal period in American history from 1963 to 1983. The civil rights movement made crucial progress toward equality by 1963. Yet racist violence persisted, and people began to question the movement’s pacifist strategy. Some leaders spoke of a separate, autonomous Black Nation, while struggles for freedom peaked worldwide. A vital demand developed in response to ongoing injustices and inequities, informed by a groundswell of pride in cultural heritage: a call for Black Power.

During this turbulent era, artists engaged in robust debates on the role of art. Many discussed what it meant to be a Black artist in the era of civil rights and its aftermath, but some rejected definitions altogether. While championing strong communities and rigorous artistic dialogues, the artists in Soul of a Nation were profoundly aware of these political visions and different senses of self, and each took an aesthetic position in relation to them.

Timeline

Time is Running Out of Time: Experimental Film and Video from the L.A. Rebellion and Today

On view now until September 14, 2019 at Art + Practice, 3401 W. 43rd Place, Los Angeles, CA 90008

Time is Running Out of Time: Experimental Film and Video from the L.A. Rebellion and Today presents early short works of Black filmmakers and video artists in Los Angeles. Central to the exhibition is a selection from the pioneering student work of the L.A. Rebellion. In the aftermath of the 1965 Watts Uprising, a group of Black diasporic students entered the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television as part of the University’s Ethno-Communications Initiative. These students collectively became known as the Los Angeles School of Filmmakers or the L.A. Rebellion. From the late-1960s to the early-1980s, they produced experimental, documentary, and narrative film and video work. The L.A. Rebellion student films display burgeoning diasporic consciousness, strong characterizations of women, and formal experimentation.

In dialogue with these films are works from following generations of filmmakers and artists in Los Angeles. Unlike the L.A. Rebellion, these younger filmmakers do not share a common educational background. Nor yet do they benefit from critical distance and its attendant historical interpretation. As individuals, they share qualities and concerns—both aesthetic and political—with the L.A. Rebellion. Across generations, themes include the robust representation of communities, families, and lineages and the complexities of identities informed by social and political realities.

Time is Running Out of Time takes its title from Haile Gerima’s Hour Glass (1971). The phrase, from a song by The Last Poets, plays as a subconscious plea during the protagonist’s political awakening. Abiodun Oyewole’s forceful intonation underscores the urgent sociopolitical circumstances of the era as he recites, “Time is running, running running…TIME’S DONE RUN OUT!” Today, the phrase is a reminder of the continued imperative to support both the work of L.A. Rebellion filmmakers and the efforts of subsequent artists taking on important contemporary issues—issues that echo this recent past.

Filmmakers and artists in the exhibition include Sophia Nahli Allison, S. Torriano Berry, Chris Bordenave, Ben Caldwell, Renata Cherlise, Jacqueline Frazier, Haile Gerima, Russell Hamilton, Ijoema Iloputaife, Alile Sharon Larkin, Alima Lee, Barbara McCullough, Bernard Nicolas, Philana Payton, Cauleen Smith, Martine Syms, dana washington, and Mandy Harris Williams.

Time is Running Out of Time is on view February 2 to September 14, 2019 and is presented in conjunction with Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983.

It's an absolute honor to have been asked to curate a playlist in connection with Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, “which shines a light on the art created by African Americans during a revolutionary two decades in American history, beginning at the height of the civil rights movement.” You've got to know where you come from, in order to get where you want to go, and without that knowledge, we are in danger of repeating history: and I don't mean the good parts. I hope you enjoy these incredibly rich and beautiful creations by some of the artists who paved the way!—Quincy Jones

Music has always been a driving vehicle of change in the struggle for equality since the early civil rights and Black Power movements of the ‘60s and ‘70’s. It provided inspiration to the visual artists in Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983. In celebration of this landmark exhibition, The Broad asked the legendary Quincy Jones to curate a playlist that gives voice to the struggle for equality and the passion, anger, and hope for a new America.