Works by Cameroonian artist Barthélémy Toguo
Either the wind repeats its lesson for tomorrow or the wind sings of buried treasures
or the wind says its evening prayers
or the wind is a cell of madmen
on the ocean
black night
while a boat treads the foam and goes
goes its slutty way.
on the ocean
black night
— “The Wind”, Pigments, Nevralgies, Leon G. Damas,1962
Ja Tovia Gary, 2019, The Giverny Document
“There is no fixed definition of Carefree Black Girl. CFBG is constantly conceptualized, re-imagined, discussed through chats, hashtags and reblogs mostly within online platforms and social media spaces and the definition varies according to the person doing the defining. To me, the carefree black girl imaginary has a lot in common with Derica Shields’ definition of “weird.” CFBG is a utopian and futuristic project which imagines a world in which black girlhood isn’t constrained, policed or disciplined by any gaze, law or language. It’s about black women’s ability to transform themselves, to change and circulate as they wish. It anticipates black girl joy and freedom. Thus, if “carefree black girl” was a film genre, it would be a subcategory of science-fiction. CFBG should ridicule, render obsolete The Mammy, Jezebel, Sapphire archetypes. It disrupts and deconstructs conventional and stereotypical images of black girl/womanhood. It inspires new ways of beings on screen, unfolds new narratives.”
— Fanta Sylla, 2014, Carefree Black Girls, Interrupted.
Mo Harawe, 2020, Life on the Horn
Burnett, 1978, Killer of Sheep