ET on Friday, Jay Z unveiled the visuals for his poignant track “4:44” on Tidal. This article first appeared on The Conversation.At 4:44 p.m. Kirsty Fairclough, Associate Dean: Research and Innovation, University of Salford. Art as an explicit metaphor for power has never seemed so present. What is so brilliantly relevant is that the pair have claimed white spaces and hosted their own black cultural moment that has the world talking. It is abundantly clear that the power couple are effectively inserting themselves into the Western art canon and deftly highlighting the importance of a diversity of representation in such traditionally hallowed halls. This invites the audience to take in an entirely new narrative, one that is direct and beautiful in its celebration of an (often intensely capitalist) sense of the many virtues of blackness. Shot in a way that allows Beyonce and Jay-Z to almost obstruct the globally renowned works behind them – kneeling, swaying and smiling in the process – images of black bodies directly challenge the limited portrayals of blackness that audiences are used to seeing in museums. The video, which was directed by Ricky Saiz, who previously directed the “Yoncé” video, and produced by Iconoclast, intersperses close-ups of the Louvre’s most famous artworks – most prominently Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa and Jacques Louis David’s Consecration of Emperor Napoleon and Coronation of Empress Josephine. That narrative being that blackness does not belong in galleries, that black art does not hold the same value structures. They literally occupy a white space with images of black love and black unity – understanding that it was the institutional exclusion of these images that allowed a pervasive white-dominated narrative to govern the collective consciousness. This is perhaps the most direct statement concerning the redressing of an oppressive, exclusive power structure that the power couple have ever made. The couples plundering of almost the entire canon of art history for maximum effect is no more on display that in the video for APES** T. This became even more apparent with the surprise release of Everything is Love, which dropped during the universally praised On The Run II tour, which itself offers a paean to African American identity. She has an astute ability to plunder high and low culture to make her own output appear completely fresh and relevant. Oshun is the goddess of beauty and love who unleashes her wrath when provoked.īricolage – or the construction or creation of a work from a diverse range of cultural references that happen to be available – is keenly at work in the scope of Beyonce’s artistry. In her visual album Lemonade, Nigerian influences were woven through with numerous references to Oshun, the Yoruba mother deity, whose colour is yellow. From pop to politicsĪs two of the most prominent African-American musicians in pop culture, Beyoncé and Jay-Z have played increasingly visible political roles – from campaigning for former president Barack Obama to championing the Black Lives Matter movement.īeyoncé, in particular, has referenced the richness of African culture in recent years. Mambéty’s son, Teemour Diop Mambéty, told Buzzfeed: “We must welcome any creative exchange respecting the integrity of the works and their authors.” Despite this, for many, this referencing is important in that it highlighted an African film that, on release, generated intense political debate about colonialism and heritage. Buzzfeed News reported they were somewhat critical of the press tour material, which was unveiled on social media. This homage, though celebrated by many fans and cultural commentators, was not entirely welcomed by Mambéty’s family (the director passed away in 1998). The lead characters are reminiscent of Bonny and Clyde, whom Beyonce and Jay-Z have previously referenced in their work. The story of Touki Bouki follows a young couple from Dakar, who steal and scheme to acquire the money to travel to their dream city of Paris. The On The Run II tour images offer a direct reference to the 1973 Senegalese film written and directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty in Wolof, a native language of Senegal, and its title loosely translates to “The Hyena’s Journey”. A post shared by Beyoncé on at 6:55am PDT
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