Maybe you've seen futurist looks on the runway, or chrome aesthetics based on futuristic speculations. Perhaps you've seen your favourite rapper or singer create a music video bursting with high tech visuals. Through intellectual properties like Marvel's Black Panther, you've noticed the stranglehold this genre has on the Black cultural zeitgeist. It seems like everywhere in Black culture and beyond, there is playfulness, ingenuity and profound internal liberation found in connecting ourselves to afrofuturism.

The concept of combining science fiction and concepts from African and Black cultures is not novel. The term Afrofuturism was first coined in 1993 by author Mark Dery in his essay Black to the Future. Black narratives within science fiction were finally explored and combined with Black and African culture. They were used to express Black subjectivity and speculations of the future. The term refers to speculative science fiction stories written by Black writers at the time.

In the present day, the term has grown to encompass more than just literature. Authors like Octavia Butler and Charles Saunders, and musicians Sun Ra and Grace Jones, among other artists, imagined a new world in their works. This form of creating worlds is pivotal to the Afrofantasy movement that holds afrofuturism under its umbrella. It acts as an escapist narrative that bleeds into the thought processes of the everyday. We see this littered throughout art and pop culture now amidst the impact of George Floyd's death at the hands of police. This led to American protests against police brutality in 2020. In this sense, Afrofuturism is a powerful tool for escapism to provide a refuge from the increasingly violent and politicized culture of the U.S. and Canada.

Within Calgary's art scene, we find afrofuturism examples. In February 2023, Venus: Future Love (part of the larger Lo-fi Futures series) showcased local Black artists backdropped by a retro-futuristic space setting.

The use of the Afro-futuristic aesthetic partnered with the goal of showcasing Calgary's Afro artists to the public catalyzes the growth of the genre for culture even here in Alberta. Award-winning R&B group Sergeant X Comrade hosted the show and featured participants of the TD Incubator Program like spoken word poet aloT of Poetry, electronic music trio Lost Decade, and hip hop and R&B artist Bubba B the MC.

As a celebration of culture and technology, interest in our future as a diaspora has been around since the term afrofuturism was coined. But more recently, we see heightened mainstream examples of afrofuturism in the popular zeitgeist. Most recent is the use of afrofuturism in the aesthetics of popular Black musicians. There's Erykah Badu and Janelle Monae's constant use of afrofuturism as an aesthetic in music videos.

Beyoncé's 2023 Renaissance tour involves the use of ballroom culture (which originated from the queer community in New York City) juxtaposed with the high-tech futuristic aesthetics of robotics found at her concerts. The growth and steady use of futuristic inspired chrome and neon lighting in the production points to a loud and burgeoning shift within Black culture towards an optimistic future.

Afrofuturism represents unlimited creativity whether you are a writer, painter, multi-media artist, or a musician tapping into the genre. It’s escapism, it’s dreaming, it’s predicting, it’s tomorrow, and it’s so right now.