In the past few years, art inspired by and producing Afrofuturism has been growing in Toronto and surroundings, thanks to a number of artists with strong agendas: I spoke before about Camille Turner, whose space adventures reveal the real stories and histories of migration, refuge and slavery of Afro- Caribbean and African American communities in Canada. The latest emerging artists working in the wide sea of Afrofuturism is Danilo McCallum, a visual artist and illustrator by training who seized the moment of growth of this movement and was able to turn it into a popular event happening every year after Black History Month: the title, conveniently, is “Black Future Month”, and features a range of interventions from paintings, installations and panels.
McCallum’s definition of Afrofuturism is simple and quite inclusive, with models spanning literature (Octavia Butler, Samuel Delaney) popular culture (Janelle Monae, Sun Rah, Michael Jackson, george Clinton, Public Enemy). His art is, itself, a mix of different styles, which he says come from Japan Animation, SciFi, and Tribal Art. His collections of Starships and portraits of celebrities and role models are rather telling
Recently, McCallum made the new for his effort to creating a space of visibility for Balck Art, by creating an Instagram database of the Black Art Scene