Arthur Jafa

I Am Tony

Confrontational and deeply affecting, Jafa’s work turns an unflinching eye toward the darkness of the past while embodying and mirroring our contemporary obsession with mass images and 'content.' Through prolonged and thoughtful engagement with social media, internet culture, cinematic history, and popular music, Jafa wields an arsenal of images across his various working mediums, communicating both the realities and appearances of contemporary Black life, along with its mass consumption, through film, video, sculpture, photography, and large-scale installations. His acclaimed and resonant films have captured the collective imagination and experience of America amidst the nation’s growing awareness of the long history of institutional violence directed toward the Black community, placing this awakening against a backdrop of the century-long ascension of Black culture, music, and entertainment to the forefront of our national identity.

Richly illustrated with 165 images representing the full breadth of the artist’s practice, this expansive catalogue includes Jafa’s most acclaimed works, such as the resounding Love is the Message, The Message is Death (2016) and the Golden Lion–winning The White Album (2018), as well as other impactful large-scale video and film installations and a range of sculptural and photographic objects.