foto by: Flo Blijenberg
One of the re-occurring visual elements in the State of L3 is the boat – referencing the migratory state of the imaginary of the project.
Guzman set up a website as a platform for exchange between the twenty members of the collective, as well as a series of exhibitions reflecting the process of becoming of The State of L3. ‘Modernity & Aesthetics of the New Black Atlantic’ is one such visual report. The title of the project is loosely based on Paul Gilroy’s well-known book ‘The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double Consciousness’ (1992). In this book Gilroy, a sociologist at Goldsmith’s College in London, describes black identity in Europe and the New World as an ongoing process of travel and xchange across the Atlantic that tried to understand its position in relation to European modernity.Often the search for African roots stems from feelings of disregard and oppression but Guzman and his flexible group of collaborators take a different starting point: a ‘new’ black atlantic. They do not ignore the burdened past – the project started for obvious reasons in Senegal, during ‘Dak’Art’, with a clear view on the infamous slave island Goree – but they mainly focus on what it is that interconnects them and on presenting themselves to ‘the world’ in an outmost confident manner. It is an attitude that allows a new turn to the Pan Africanism of illustrious predecessors like Marcus Garvey.
Imaginary State of L3:
Gallery 23
Smart Project Space
Galerie Sanaa
June/July/August/September 2010
