Celestial Bodies: Black Queer Identity In Precolonial Africa

EXACT EVENT TIME TBD Celestial Bodies: Black Queer Identity in Precolonial Africa Join award-winning author/illustrator Rashad Malik Davis at the Princeton Public Library for his first ever exhibition exploring the rich history of Black Queer Identity in Precolonial Africa. Historically, the Black body has been feared, othered, mystified, or scrutinized. But what about the Black Queer body? What specific stories do these bodies have to tell? Facing scrutiny from within and without their respective communities, Black Queer bodies deserve a loving touch and a deeper look. In Celestial Bodies, artist Rashad. M. Davis uses history, folklore, and precolonial African belief systems to explore the question: Is Queerness simply an import of colonization and thereby of “Whiteness”? Or is there perhaps a much more nuanced, ancient, and beautiful history that is begging to be explored? Although concepts of Queerness differ widely across the African continent's wide array of cultures, gender non-conformity and a vast array of sexual identities are not new. Gender non-conformity and non-heteronormative identities have been celebrated, lauded, and in some cases even considered sacred. From the androgynous deity twin Mawu-Lisa of the Dahomey, to the celestial, primordial, intersex Nommo spirits of the Dogon, to the first ever recorded same sex loving couple in recorded history in Kemet (Egypt), African history is full of beautifully Queer identity. This exhibition takes the audience through a visual journey, using the concept of the cosmos to illuminate those living Black ancestors while mapping the constellation of different cultures on the African continent to reckon with the notion of who we were, who we are, and what we may yet be. More Info below.