In need of some inspiring Friday reading? We recommend Anoushka Khandwala’s recent exploration of the history and legacy of AfriCOBRA, the groundbreaking African American artists’ collective, formed in Chicago in 1968. The feature touches upon this captivating painting by AfriCOBRA cofounder, Wadsworth A Jarrell, in which “hand-rendered lettering emanates from… the determined, proclaiming mouth of Angela Davis”. This, Khandwala notes, is “the only inch of quiet space in a swirling vortex of words, aptly conveying the former Black Panther’s oratory power”. The work is just one example of the movement’s powerful aesthetic, which blurred the boundary between graphic design and fine art in a collective act of resilience that simultaneously visualised “a future of vibrance and joy”.
