Welcome to Atlantica! Artist journeys to new planet.

Advertising has its own language that aims to shape consumer habits. Some contemporary artists borrow advertising aesthetics to critique capitalism and question modes of mass communication that influence cultural norms. A recognizable example would be Andy Warhol’s infamous Campbell’s Soup Cans (1962), which presented commercial imagery from consumer culture. Advertisements build familiarity and trust and have the power to affect mood, entertain, and motivate.

April Bey’s Welcome to Atlantica (Hotel Room Planet Guide) 9 was made to advertise the culture of an Afrofuturist planet that is free from the colonial his- tory and traumas surrounding Black experience on Earth. This world was inspired by a story from Bey’s father, a devoted Trekkie, who used his imagination to comfort his daughter when she faced racism growing up. Making Atlantica accessible through her art practice, Bey created original advertisements found on the planet to challenge the current status quo. Her advertisements communicate futuristic representations of how Blackness will evolve when systems of oppression are destroyed.

To view April Bey’s tourist guide of Atlantica, scan the QR code.

Contemporary Artists Transform the Archive!

Artists transform everyday objects and archival material like video, documents, and artifacts to create new meanings. Artworks composed with archival material, such as newspapers and found objects, bring a new context to historical moments. Horacio Rodriguez layers contemporary techniques on replicas of pre-Columbian figures in Educate, Engage, Resist 10 . Rodriquez uses graffiti tagging to write words of empowerment on the models in the spirit of resilience. Working with archival materials allows artists to blend the personal, political, and cultural, leading us to question our understanding of the ways history has been presented. In his Fundament series 11 , Jeremy Dean does this by layering historical photographs on fragments of stone from the foundation of a recently removed Confederate monument in St. Augustine, Florida. Dean deepens our knowledge of the past and recognizes the ways it has a lasting effect on our present and future.

Identify types of archival materials artists use in the exhibition. How do they change your perspective of the past?