Arthur Jafa (; born Arthur Jafa Fielder, November 30, 1960) is an American video artist and cinematographer.

Early life and education

Jafa was born on November 30, 1960 in

Tupelo, Mississippi Tupelo () is a city in and the county seat of Lee County, Mississippi, United States. With an estimated population of 38,300, Tupelo is the sixth-largest city in Mississippi and is considered a commercial, industrial, and cultural hub of North M ...

and raised in

Clarksdale, Mississippi Clarksdale is a city in and the county seat of Coahoma County, Mississippi, United States. It is located along the Sunflower River. Clarksdale is named after John Clark, a settler who founded the city in the mid-19th century when he establishe ...

which was highly segregated at the time. His parents were both educators and Jafa was raised

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. As a child, Jafa assembled binders full of found images in collections he called "the books." He also grew up watching shows like ''

I Spy I spy is a guessing game where one player (the ''spy'' or ''it'') chooses an object within sight and announces to the other players that "I spy with my little eye something beginning with...", naming the first letter of the object. Other players a ...

'', and science fiction programs. Jafa studied architecture and film at

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a private, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is classified among "R2: Doctoral Universities – High research activity" and accredited by the Middle States Commissi ...

before moving to Atlanta, Georgia.

Artistic career

The science fiction programs Jafa watched as a child has informed his artistic practice as an adult, as seen in his self portrait "LeRage" (2017). His work is also inspired by his interest in jazz musician

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

. He has exhibited at the

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden is an art museum beside the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., the United States. The museum was initially endowed during the 1960s with the permanent art collection of Joseph H. Hirshhorn. It was des ...

, the

Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's o ...

, and the Julia Stoschek Collection, as well as many others. He has worked as a cinematographer with directors

Julie Dash Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American film director, writer and producer. Dash received her MFA in 1985 at the UCLA Film School and is one of the graduates and filmmakers known as the L.A. Rebellion. The L.A. Rebellion refers ...

and

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

. His work on Dash's ''

Daughters of the Dust ''Daughters of the Dust'' is a 1991 independent film written, directed and produced by Julie Dash and is the first feature film directed by an African-American woman distributed theatrically in the United States.Michel, Martin (November 20, 2016)" ...

'' (1991) won "Best Cinematography" Award at Sundance. His seven-minute video essay ''Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death'' is in the collections of the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, the

, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

. Set to

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

's song "

Ultralight Beam "Ultralight Beam" is a song by American recording artist Kanye West from his seventh studio album ''The Life of Pablo'' (2016). The song features vocals by R&B singers The-Dream and Kelly Price, rapper Chance the Rapper, gospel singer Kirk Fr ...

", the work consists of a series of found images and video clips depicting a range of Black American experiences throughout history which establishes that the black experience is not monolithic, every experience is unique. Among many other clips exploring African American life and resiliency, the video essay juxtaposes recordings of police violence and footage from the

Civil Rights Movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

with clips of Black artistry, pop culture, celebration, and creativity. Jafa himself has connected the ethos of the work with his Catholic roots and

Gian Lorenzo Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...

's " Ecstasy of Saint Teresa". On Friday, June 26, 2020, 13 museums in 7 countries pledged, with Jafa's blessing, to stream the work for free on their respective websites for 48 hours. Jafa also has worked on a number of music videos and was the director of photography on videos for Solange's " Don't Touch My Hair" and "

Cranes in the Sky "Cranes in the Sky" is a song by American singer and songwriter Solange. Released on October 5, 2016 by Saint Records and Columbia Records, it is the first single from Solange's third album, ''A Seat at the Table''. The song was written by Solang ...

." He was included in the 2017 ''

ArtReview ''ArtReview'' is an international contemporary art magazine based in London, founded in 1948. Its sister publication, ''ArtReview Asia'', was established in 2013. History Launched as a fortnightly broadsheet in February 1949 by a retired country ...

'' Power 100 list. Jafa co-founded TNEG along with Malik Sayeed, a "motion picture studio whose goal is to create a black cinema as culturally, socially, and economically central to the 21st century as was black music to the 20th century". TNEG has produced a number of works such as ''Dreams Are Colder Than Death'' and the music video for

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

's song " 4:44". In 2018, Jafa released the approximately forty minute-long video essay entitled ''The White Album'', which uses found video clips from CCTV, cell phones, documentaries, and more to explore whiteness and racism in the United States of America. He was awarded the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

for best artist at the

2019 Venice Biennale The 58th Venice Biennale was an international contemporary art exhibition held between May and November 2019. The Venice Biennale takes place biennially in Venice, Italy. Artistic director Ralph Rugoff curated its central exhibition, ''May You ...

for ''The White Album''. In 2020, he produced a music video for

's single "

Wash Us in the Blood "Wash Us in the Blood" is a song by American rapper Kanye West featuring fellow American rapper Travis Scott. It was produced by West, Ronny J, and BoogzDaBeast, while co-produced by FnZ and A.G., with additional production from Dem Jointz and I ...

". He is currently working on a project that is a feature film that focuses on how black music has greatly influenced American culture. His work is represented by Gavin Brown's Enterprise.

Personal life

While working on a film with Charles Burnett in 1980, Jafa met the director

. Dash and Jafa married in 1983 and had a daughter, N'Zinga in 1984. The couple later separated, after collaborating on the film ''

''.

Selected filmography

* ''

'' *''Love is the Message, The Message is Death'' *''The White Album'' * ''

Seven Songs for Malcolm X ''Seven Songs for Malcolm X'' is a British documentary film about the life of Malcolm X, the influential civil rights activist who was assassinated in 1965. The film was written and directed by John Akomfrah, with co-writer Edward George, and ...

'' * ''The Darker Side of Black'' * ''

Crooklyn ''Crooklyn'' is a 1994 American semi-autobiographical film produced and directed by Spike Lee and co-written with his sister Joie and brother Cinqué. Occurring in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, during the summer ...

'' * ''A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde'' * ''Rouch in Reverse'' * ''W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices'' * ''Bamako Sigi-Kan'' * ''Conakry Kas'' * '' Shadows of Liberty'' * ''Roomieloverfriends'' *'' Don't Touch My Hair'' *''

'' * ''

'' * ''The Start Up'' (2013) * ''Dreams Are Colder Than Death'' * ''Florida Water'' (2014) * ''In The Morning'' * ''Killing Me Softly: The Roberta Flack Story''

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jafa, Arthur 1960 births Living people American video artists African-American cinematographers American cinematographers Artists from Mississippi People from Tupelo, Mississippi 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists African-American Catholics Howard University alumni 20th-century African-American artists 21st-century African-American artists