The Future is Breath: An Artist Talk on Afrofuturism and Speculative Fiction

On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Hyde Park Art Center presents a conversation centering the work of exhibition artist Candace Hunter and the legacy of Black science fiction writer, Octavia Butler, that inspires Hunter’s current exhibition. The conversation will focus on the shared sense of world-building within Butler’s literary work and Hunter’s reimagining of spatial representation. The conversation will explore the legacy and impact of Butler on the Afrofuturism movement and speculative fiction as a literary genre.  The title of the program, "The Future is Breath," speaks to the current conversations surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement and highlights conceptual ideas relating to the future of Black people and their evolution in lieu of the grief surrounding Black death.