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What is called the imagination (from image, magi, magic, magician, etc.) is a practical vector from the soul. It stores all data, and can be called on to solve all our “problems.” The imagination is the projection of ourselves past our sense of ourselves as “things.” Imagination (image) is all possibility, because from the image, the initial circumscribed energy, any use (idea) is possible. And so begins that image’s use in the world. Possibility is what moves us.
—Amiri Baraka, “The Revolutionary Theatre”, Liberator, July 1965
A Message to BPIII Attendees
Dear Participants,
I would like to thank you all for attending and contributing to the success of BLACK PORTRAITURE[S] III: Reinventions: Strains of Histories and Cultures in Johannesburg, South Africa this past week. The primary goal of the conference was to bring together artists, activists, and scholars from around the world to engage in discussion on a range of topics in an interdisciplinary way. The conversations that took place were fascinating, informative and fruitful. I hope that you found your participation in the conference as worthwhile as I did.
As with the previous BLACK PORTRAITURE[S] conferences, this event will be remembered for years to come. Duke University has memorialized the BP conference in Paris (2014) with a selection of essays, which is now online and accessible free of charge to conference attendees. Please take a moment visit http://nka.dukejournals.org/
This Issue
Volume 2016, Number 38-39, November 2016
And, visit blackportraitures.info for video links to our conference in Florence (2015).
Thank you, again, for making it such a wonderful and highly stimulating experience!
Sincerely,
Deborah Willis, Ph.D. University Professor and Chair