Black Nations/Queer Nations?: Screening and Community Discussion will take place at Getty Center on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, from 3 pm – 6 pm. Free advance tickets!
Shari Frilot‘s experimental documentary Black Nations/Queer Nations? chronicles the groundbreaking 1995 conference on lesbian and gay sexualities in the African diaspora.
The conference brought together an array of dynamic scholars, activists, artists, and cultural workers including Essex Hemphill, Kobena Mercer, Barbara Smith, Urvashi Vaid, Isaac Julien, and M. Jacqui Alexander to interrogate the economic, political, and social situations of diasporic LGBTQIA+ peoples.
This special screening of the film, followed by a discussion featuring the film’s director Shari Frilot and Columbia University’s Dr. Jafari Sinclaire Allen, will allow us to once again explore the identities, culture, and politics of Black queer peoples both in history and the now.
This program is under their African American Art History Initiative (AAAHI), which focuses on the history, practices, and cultural legacies of artists of African American and African diasporic heritage. AAAHI aims to provide a more robust and accurate history of American art, one that will have a decisive impact on the narrative of global culture.
