| 1960 |
Born Tulepo, Mississippi |
| 1983 |
Howard University, Washington DC, USA Lives and works in Los Angeles, USA |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2025 |
HARDCORE / LOVE, Conditions, London, England Love Is The Message, The Message Is Death, E-Werk, Luckenwalde, Germany |
| 2024 |
Part 2, Champ Lacombe, Biarritz, France nativemanson, Sprüth Magers, Los Angeles CA, USA Part 1, Champ Lacombe, Biarritz, France Works from the MCA Collection, MCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago IL, USA BLACK POWER TOOL AND DIE TRYNIG, 52 Walker, New York NY, USA Gladstone Gallery, New York NY, USA |
| 2023 |
Unrest, Fiona and Sidney Myer Gallery, University of Melbourne, Australia |
| 2022 |
RHAMESJAFACOSEYJAFADRAYTON, OGR Torino, Italy The White Album, 5 West 127th Street, New York NY, USA Live Evil, LUMA Foundation, Arles, France Love Is The Message, the Message Is Death, Warrnambool Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia |
| 2021 |
AGHDRA, Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York NY, USA Glenstone, Potomac MD, USA Gladstone 64, Gladstone Gallery, New York NY, USA MAGNUMB, The Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Denmark Dinosaur Fried Chicken Man, Cahiers d’Art, Paris, France |
| 2020 |
A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions, Fundação de Serralves, Porto, Portugal Love is the Message, The Message is Death, Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, Canada |
| 2019 |
Love is the Message, The Message is Death, Palazzo Madama, Turin, Italy A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions, Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague, Czech Republic |
| 2018 |
The White Album, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkeley CA, USA Love is the Message, The Message is Death, Luma Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland air above mountains, unknown pleasures, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York NY, USA APEX, LUMA Arles, France Love is the Message, The Message is Death, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, Sant’ Andrea de Scaphis, Rome, Italy Love is The Message, The Message is Death, MCA The Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver CO, USA Love is the Message, The Message is Death, Davidson College Art Museum, Davidson NC, USA A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions, Julia Stoschek Foundation, Berlin, Germany Love is The Message, The Message is Death, ICA Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston MA, USA |
| 2017 |
Love is The Message, The Message is Death, The Vinyl Factory, Store Studios, London, England MOCAD Detroit Offsite, 1086 Bellevue Street, Detroit MI, USA Love is the Message, The Message is Death, LUMA Foundation, Arles, France A Series of Utterly Improbable, Yet Extraordinary Renditions, Serpentine Gallery, London, England Love is The Message, The Message is Death, MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles CA, USA |
| 2016 |
Love is The Message, The Message is Death, Gavin Brown's enterprise, New York NY, USA |
Group Exhibitions
| 2025 |
Corps et âme, The Bourse de Commerce – Pinault Collection, Paris, France |
| 2024 |
Days of Re-Entry, CAC Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati CO, USA Summer Show, curated by Philippe Parreno, Fondation Beyeler, Riehen, Switzerland Come One, Come All, Anthony Gallery, Chicago IL, USA If not now, when?, Museum Beelden aan Zee, The Hague, The Netherlands Surrealism and Us: Caribbean and African Diasporic Artists since 1940, The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth TX, USA Improbable Anagrams: Works from the Serralves Collection, Museu Fundação Serralves, Porto, Portugal The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt am Main, Germany Cinema Galleggiante (Floating Cinema) festival, Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection, Venice, Italy Post Human, Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, Los Angeles CA, USA Yours Truly, Nahmad Contemporary, New York NY, USA cover me softly, Beta 2024 Biennial, Timisoara, Romania Sacred Dreams of the Promised Land, Queen Rose Art House, Tulsa OK, USA |
| 2023 |
Musical Thinking: New Video Artists in the Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, USA Glitch. Die Kunst der Störung, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich, Germany Message from America, Nassima Landau Art Foundation, Tel Aviv, Israel SLOPEX, LUMA Westbau, Zurich, Switzerland Multiplicity: Blackness in Contemporary American Collage, Frist Art Museum, Nashville BACK, Peter Freeman Gallery, New York NY, USA I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth TX, USA Deutsche Börse Photo Prize, The Photographer's Gallery, London, England NOT FOR SALE, NXTHVN, New Haven CT, USA The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore MD, USA Soft and Weak Like Water, 14th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, South Korea Arthur Jafa: akingdoncomethas, TONO Festival, Alameda Art Laboratory, Mexico City, Mexico |
| 2022 |
Real Corporeal, curated by Ben Broome, 439 West 127th Street, New York NY, USA Techno, Berlin und die große Freiheit, Julia Stoschek Collection, Düsseldorf, Germany Mimicries, curated by Jeffrey Stucker and Jan Tumlir, Ben Hunter Gallery, London, England America: Between Dreams and Realities, Selections from the Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Musée national des beaux-arts, Québec, Canada Future Bodies from a Recent Past - Skulptur, Technologie, Körper seit den 1950er-Jahren, Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany Museum Brandhorst Globalisto. A Philosophy in flux, curated by Mo Laudi, Musée d’art modern et contemporain Saint-Étienne, France Mountain/Time, Aspen Art Museum, Aspen CO, USA Drawing Together, Museum Bellpark, Kriens, Switzerland Unweaving the binary code – Hannah Ryggen Triennale, Kunsthall Trondheim, Norway The Tender, Fragile Thing, Jack Shainman Gallery – The School, New York NY, USA Kinderhook Just Futures: Black Quantum Futurism, Sesnon Art Gallery, Santa Cruz CA, USA CHAOS: CALM, Bangkok Art Bienniale, Thailand |
| 2021 |
Family: Visions of a Share Humanity curated by Franklin Sirmans, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia Sydney Black American Portraits, LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles CA, USA The Sun Machine is Coming Down International Congress Centre, Berlin, Germany Image Processors: Artists in the Medium – A Short History 1968-2020, Adam Art Gallery, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand The Dirty South: Contemporary Art, Material Culture, and the Sonic Impulse, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond VA, USA The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time, Brooklyn Museum, New York NY, USA I CARE BECAUSE YOU DO, The Mass, Tokyo A Million Roses for Angela Davis, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Germany A Fire in My Belly, Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin, Germany Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America, New Museum, New York NY, USA Virgil Abloh: Figures of Speech, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston MA, USA |
| 2020 |
Living Just Enough, Goodman Gallery, London, England Wesleyan University Centre for the Arts, Middletown, Connecticut CT, USA Nirin Naarm, Australian Centre for Contemporary Art, Melbourne, Australia The White Album, 22nd Biennale of Sydney Punta della Dogana, curated by Muna El Fituri, Thomas Houseago, and Caroline Bourgeois, Venice, Italy |
| 2019 |
Paul Pfeiffer / Washington: D.C, Exodus, Bortolami Gallery, Watergate Office Building, Washington DC, USA Tell me about yesterday tomorrow, Munich Documentation Centre for the History of National Socialism, Munich, Germany Ebsploitatian, Martos Gallery, New York NY, USA Surrounds: 11 Installations, Museum of Modern Art, New York NY, USA Forever Young; 10 Years Museum Brandhorst, Museum Brandhorst, Munich, Germany May You Live In Interesting Times, 58th Venice Biennale, curated by Ralph Rugoff, Venice, Italy Medicine for a Nightmare, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway Dreamweavers, curated by Nicola Vassell, UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles CA, USA HYPER! A JOURNEY INTO ART AND MUSIC, Deichtorhallen, Hamburg Prisoner of Love, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Chicago IL, USA |
| 2018 |
Love is the Message, The Message is Death, Perez Art Museum, Miami FL, USA Love is the Message, The Message is Death, High Museum, Atlanta True Luxury, Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, The Netherlands Nothing Stable under Heaven, SFMOMA Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA, USA The Pain of Others, Ghebaly Gallery, Los Angeles CA, USA There’s nothing new under the sun, but there are new suns, Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht, The Netherlands |
| 2017 |
Truth: 24 Frames Per Second, Dallas Museum of Art The Message, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC, USA Picture Industry, Hessel Museum, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson NY, USA The Body Politic: Video from the Met Collection, Met Breuer, New York NY, USA |
| 2016 |
Made in L.A. 2016, The Hammer Museum, Los Angeles CA, USA |
| 2014 |
Ruffneck Constructivists, curated by Kara Walker, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia PA, USA |
| 2002 |
Social Formal, Westfälischer Kunstveren, Münster, Germany My Black Death, ARTPACE, San Antonio TX, USA |
| 2001 |
Mirror’s Edge, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark Mirror’s Edge, Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland Bitstreams, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY, USA A Small Museum and a Large Library of Contemporary Art: Parkett Collaborations & Editions since 1984, Museum of Modern Art, New York NY, USA Economie de moyens, Musee d’Art Contemporain, Marseille, France Jheronimus Bosch, Musee d’art moderne et contemporain, Rotterdam, Netherlands |
| 2000 |
Mirror’s Edge, Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Rivoli, Italy Whitney Biennial 2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY, USA Mirror’s Edge, Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, Canada Media City, Seoul, Korea Black Box, CCAC Institute, Oakland CA, USA |
| 1999 |
Mirror’s Edge, Bildmusseet, Umeå, Sweden Dexter Buell, Arthur Jafa, Judy Stevens, Artists Space, New York NY, USA Tramway, Glasgow, Scotland Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada |
Directed Films
| 2021 |
AGHDRA |
| 2020 |
Wash Us in the Blood |
| 2018 |
akingdoncomethas |
| 2017 |
Jay-Z 4:44 |
| 2016 |
Love is the Message, The Message is Death |
| 2014 |
Adrian Younge |
| 2013 |
Dreams are Colder than Death APEX |
| 2009 |
Deshotten 1.0 |
| 2000 |
Black Millenium Corner |
| 1999 |
Tree |
| 1996 |
Smile |
| 1995 |
Slowly This |
| 1983 |
Considerations |
Cinematography
| 2018 |
Happy Birthday, Marsha! |
| 2017 |
Cranes in the Sky Don't Touch My Hair |
| 2014 |
In the Morning Florida Water |
| 2013 |
Head and Hands: My Black Angel Nine for IX |
| 2012 |
Roomieloverfriends Shadows of Liberty |
| 2009 |
William Lynch: Bible Stories Meet the Eye |
| 2007 | AfterLife |
| 2004 |
Conakry Kas |
| 2003 |
Bamako Sigi-Kan |
| 2002 |
I Am Ali |
| 1991- 2001 | American Experience |
| 1999 | Eyes Wide Shut |
| 1996 |
American Masters W.E.B. DuBois: A Biography in Four Voices |
| 1995 |
Rouch in Reverse A Litany for Survival: The Life and Work of Audre Lorde |
| 1994 |
Crookyln The Darker Side of Black |
| 1993 |
Seven Songs for Malcolm X |
| 1991 |
Daughters of the Dust |
Screenings
| 2024 |
Dreams are Colder than Death, The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute at Williams College, Williamstown MA, USA |
| 2019 |
The White Album, Purple Garden Cinema, The Underground Museum, Los Angeles CA, 12 July The Hidden Pulse in collaboration with M+, Love is the Message, the Message is Death, The Playhouse Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, 30 May Conversation and Screening in Conjunction with Medicine for a Nightmare, Kunstnernes Hus, Oslo, Norway, 21 March Affective Proximity: Films by Arthur Jafa and Others; Conversation with Arthur Jafa and Greg Tate, BAMPHA, Berkeley CA, USA, 28 February Dreams Are Colder Than Death; In Conversation with Arthur Jafa and Leigh Raiford, BAMPHA, Berkeley CA, USA, 27 February |
| 2018 |
Dreams Are Colder Than Death, ICA MIAMI, Miami FL, USA, 13 September Dreams Are Colder Than Death, ICA Boston, Boston MA, USA, 19 August Dreams Are Colder Than Death, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco CA, USA, May 2017 Carrie Mae Weems: The Shape of Things, Park Avenue Armory, New York NY, USA, 17 December AFROGLOSSIA Film Program, Performa 17, New York NY, USA, 6 November Dreams are Colder than Death, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles LA, USA, 11 May Dreams are Colder than Death, APEX_scenario, Cassowary: Mechanics of Empathy, Considerations, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn NY, USA, 28 March |
| 2016 |
Dreams are Colder than Death, ICP, New York NY, USA, 26 September Dreams are Colder than Death, International Center of Photography School, Barnard College, New York NY, USA, 26 September (with Christina Sharpe, Reina Gossett & Tavia Nyong’o) Dreams are Colder than Death, Museum of Contemporary African Diaspora Art, New York NY, USA, 22 August Arthur Jafa and Manohla Dargis: A Screening and Conversation, SUNY Purchase NY, USA, 28 February |
| 2015 |
Dreams Are Colder Than Death, Project Row Houses, Houston TX, USA, 15 November Dreams Are Colder Than Death, Aurora Picture Show, Houston Cinema Arts Society, Houston, TX, USA, 14 November APEX Redacted, Flux Night 2015: Dream, Atlanta GA, USA (with Rashida Bumbray, Elissa Blount Moorhead) |
| 2014 |
bell hooks and Arthur Jafa discuss Transgression in Public Spaces, The New School, New York NY, USA, 19 October Arthur Jafa on the Making of ‘Dreams Are Colder than Death, The City College of New York, New York NY, USA, 2 October Dreams Are Colder than Death, 52nd New York Film Festival, New York NY, USA, 30 September Dreams Are Colder Than Death, ICA Philadelphia, Philadelphia PA, USA, 19 March |
| 2013 |
Arthur Jafa, APEX_TNEG, MIT, Boston MA, USA, 25 February |
Public Collections
|
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York NY, USA Studio Museum in Harlem, New York NY, USA Museum of Modern Art, New York NY, USA Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York NY, USA Whitney Museum of American Art, New York NY, USA Hessel Museum, Annandale-On-Hudson NY, USA Glenstone Museum, Potomac MD, USA Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA, USA Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, USA Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington DC, USA Detroit Institute of Arts, USA Minneapolis Institute of Art, USA érez Museum, Miami FL, USA Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles CA, USA San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, USA Dallas Museum of Art, USA High Museum, Atlanta GA, USA Tate, London, England Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Fondation LVMH, Paris, France Pinault Collection, Paris, France LUMA Foundation, Arles, France Brandhorst Museum, Munich, Germany Julia Stoschek Collection, Berlin/Cologne, Germany Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Turin, Italy Domus Collection, New York/Beijing Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada |
Awards
| 2019 |
Prix International d’Art Contemporain, Prince Pierre Foundation Golden Lion Award, 58th Venice Biennale |
| 2018 |
Herb Alpert Award |
| 2017 |
Paul Robeson Award, Actor’s Equity Association |
| 2015 |
Best Documentary, Black Star Film Festival (for Dreams are Colder than Death) |
| 1992 |
Cinematography Award, Sundance Film Festival (for Daughters of the Dust) |