There Are Black People in the Future is a participatory project that declares presence and futurity through repeated declaration. The project’s title was introduced by Alisha Wormsley, an interdisciplinary artist and cultural producer. Throughout her artwork, Wormsley compels the preservation and amplification of Black women and their stories in collective memory practices. Her project began as a billboard in Pittsburgh and has since inspired the installation of similar billboards across the world.
The collective force of There Are Black People in the Future has also inspired a wide range of protest signs, songs, essays, theoretical texts, testimonies, and collective speculations for the future. Alisha Wormsley proclaims There Are Black People in the Future as “a ritual and a prophecy.”
The movement has spread, with the construction of billboards accompanied by programs supporting local artists and communities across Detroit, Charlotte, New York, Kansas City, Houston, Chicago, Oakland, Accra, Belfast, and London.
instagram.com/alishabwormsley
© Alisha Wormsley
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Courtesy of the artist
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TOP: Courtesy of the artist; BOTTOM: Courtesy of the artist, Photo by Heather Mull
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