Gift of the Artist

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum’s artwork synthesizes Afrofuturism and earthly and cosmic landscapes to imagine the potential of a radical new future. In Look Out, an indigo, constellation-filled sky sheds blue-hued drops over a rocky landscape, generating another world in which Black people’s full potential can be realized. The artist imagines her landscapes outside of a familiar present, layering translucent swaths of paint and eliminating visual markers of time and space to add a transcendent quality to the work. Sunstrum speculates on African innovation and uniqueness, and calls upon diasporic and collective fantasies to celebrate her African heritage.

Bibliography

Newman, Lia, et. al. Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum: ab initio. Davidson, North Carolina: Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, 2013.