Afrofuturism

A rightful place for Black culture

Afrofuturism is a creative movement where art, technology, and mythology converge. It tells new stories in which Black civilizations are not standing on the sidelines, but at the very center. It is a way of thinking where justice and imagination go hand in hand. Within this background story, you’ll meet pioneers and visionaries — from musician and cosmic thinker Sun Ra, to Ryan Coogler’s film Black Panther, and the sculptural worlds of artist Ekow Nimako.

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More Than a Genre

Afrofuturism is a vision of Black identity that is not limited, but celebrated. It embraces art and storytelling that imagine, for instance, futuristic cities built on African mythology, sculptures that weave technology with ancestral wisdom, and music that extends the pulse of ancient African rhythms. Afrofuturism reimagines African history and the colonial past — not through the lens of European interpretations, but as a view of Africa as a global power whose cultures have always been dynamic and technologically advanced.

Three Elders by Jacque Njeri: Africanfuturism, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_Elders.jpg

Three Elders by Jacque Njeri, via Wikimedia Commons

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Afrofuturism is also a tool for self-understanding in a world shaped by inequality. This is one reason why it resonates so strongly within African American communities, while the movement continues to grow and flourish across the world.

Alternative Histories and Future Visions

Christiaan Fruneaux and Edwin Gardner, known for their popular Substack De Chrononauten, explore historical shifts and inspiring future scenarios. They describe Afrofuturism as an intellectual and cultural movement that plays a vital role within the African American community. It stems from a deep desire to break free from dominant narratives in which Black people are too often marginalized — in both past and future. By reimagining these timelines, Afrofuturism opens up space for dignity, belonging, and wholeness.

Afrofuturism envisions alternative histories and futures that honor the memories and lived experiences of their creators. It offers a space for marginalized groups to detach from societies that have long denied them full participation. In many ways, Afrofuturism is the art of returning home — one that begins with letting go. As De Chrononauten write: “If both the past and the future function as a straitjacket, then time is not on your side — and rejecting or releasing (linear) time may be the only way forward.”

In many ways, Afrofuturism is the art of returning home — one that begins with letting go.

De Chrononauten

Afrofuturism in Music: Sun Ra

One of the greatest musical inspirations and pioneers of Afrofuturism is Sun Ra — often called the creative forefather of the movement. From the 1950s onward, Sun Ra gained international acclaim for his revolutionary and experimental jazz, as well as his theatrical live performances. Equally influential was his “cosmic” Afrofuturist philosophy, inspired by a vision in which he was taken to Saturn. From that moment on, Sun Ra began crafting a unique world where science fiction, cosmic mysticism, and the visual language of ancient African cultures merged into one.

Distributed by Impulse! Records and ABC/Dunhill Records. Photographer uncredited on the publicity photo itself; most likely Francis Ing, who is credited for the photography on Astro Black (see Discogs link above)., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Sun Ra

In his art, Sun Ra intertwined these cosmic elements with the everyday realities of alienation and exclusion so familiar to the African American experience of the 20th century — giving that experience a transcendent, otherworldly dimension. His film Space Is the Place envisions the cosmos as a destination where the African American community can claim dignity and belonging — in the past, present, and future alike.

North American Star System Production and El Saturn Research, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Film poster Space is the Place

Afrofuturism in Film: Black Panther

Perhaps the most well-known example of Afrofuturism is Marvel’s Black Panther (2018), directed by Ryan Coogler. The film introduced the first Black superhero to mainstream cinema. After the death of his father, the king of Wakanda, T’Challa returns home to take his rightful place on the throne. His courage is tested both within and beyond his homeland.

Filmposter Black Panther. Credit: Marvel Studios

Wakanda — a fictional African nation — was never colonized and stands as a beacon of immense wealth and technological advancement, far surpassing the rest of the world. Danielle Becker, a scholar of Visual Arts at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, observes: “In Wakanda’s architecture, traditional elements such as thatched roofs and hand-painted walls are interwoven with modern features like glass facades and rooftop gardens. Together they form a futuristic vision. This is quintessential Afrofuturism: connecting past, present, and future.”

T’Challa’s Royal Talon Fighter flying above Wakanda in the film Black Panther. Credit: Marvel Studios.

The Oscar-winning film received worldwide acclaim and broke countless records. For Black communities in the United States and beyond, Black Panther held special significance. It offered a story of pride and power, directly challenging the negative stereotypes that have long dominated Hollywood — where Black actors are often cast as enslaved people (12 Years a Slave), victims of poverty or violence (Detroit), or supporting characters to white leads (The Help). Black Panther shattered that pattern. It placed Black identity and African culture at the center, unbound from the weight of colonial history.

Afrofuturism in Art: Ekow Nimako

Ekow Nimako is one of the most compelling voices in contemporary Afrofuturism. Using thousands of black LEGO® bricks, the Ghanaian-Canadian artist builds mythical sculptures that are both futuristic and spiritual. His work tells an alternative story — one in which Black civilizations are not reduced to fragments of colonial narratives, but celebrated as sources of ancestral knowledge, creativity, and resilience.

Ekow Nimako with Building Black Civilizations - The Nile 3023 CE © Aad Hoogendoorn

With The Nile 3025 CE, Nimako adds a new piece to his acclaimed series Building Black Civilizations — a powerful tribute to the richness of African history and imagination. The new work will be on view at the Wereldmuseum Amsterdam from 31 October 2025. Stretching nearly seven meters long and built from one million black LEGO® bricks, the sculpture unfolds as a futuristic landscape along the Nile River, from Lake Victoria in Central Africa to the Mediterranean Sea.

View more of Ekow Nimako's art

Nimako envisions a united and thriving Africa, free of borders — his abstract forms merging architecture, spirituality, and civilization. By intertwining history, design, and imagination, and through his deliberate choice of only black bricks, he portrays a future where Black civilizations stand at the center — unbroken by colonial interruption.

Visit the exhibition Building Black Civilizations by Ekow Nimako at Wereldmuseum Amsterdam, from 31 October 2025 to 8 March 2026.

This background story was created with special thanks to De Chrononauten.
In their weekly research blog, De Chrononauten, writers Edwin Gardner and Christiaan Fruneaux explore historical transformations, social frameworks of thought, and credible future scenarios. Interested in more Afrofuturist insights? Read more here.

Sources

Danielle Becker (2019) – Afrofuturism and Decolonisation: Using Black Panther as Methodology, published in Image & Text, no. 33.

De Chrononauten (July 9 2022) – Afrofuturisme, de Kunst van het Thuiskomen, dechrononauten.nl.

Grace Gipson (2019) – “Creating and Imagining Black Futures through Afrofuturism,” in #identity: Hashtagging Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Nation, edited by Abigail De Kosnik & Keith P. Feldman, University of Michigan Press.