In a series of Afro-Atlantic narratives, Grace Wales Bonner weaves together archival portfolios and historical ephemera to anoint the themes of her issue, subtitled Rhapsody in the Street, and commission new works within it.
A Magazine Curated By Grace Wales Bonner is a continuation of the research that the designer dedicates to her craft, diving deep into the literary and visual traditions documenting Blackness in fleeting pockets of history or as a part of a larger interconnected history. Rather than the monolith often portrayed by Eurocentric narratives, the designer muses on the complexities and nuances of the Black Atlantic expressed throughout various disciplines, from essays and poems to paintings and portraits. Between the collection of Black poetry and photography books, Bonner draws a continuous line starting from In Our Terribleness through the Sweet Flypaper of Life to the Sweet Breath of Life. Discover these references in dialogue with one another, informing a new generation of artists and culminating into A Magazine Curated By Grace Wales Bonner.
In Memory of Greg Tate, whose profound thoughts examining contemporary culture in Flyboy in the Buttermilk (1992) continue to inspire the artists featured in this edition and beyond.
