For ‘The Future is Black’, Marc Martha and I joined forces. He created a collection and for the photographic series we wanted to reframe history but also the future. In books and films the future looks mostly white with very futuristic technology and not connected to nature at all.

Marc Martha made a collection for his master at Antwerp Fashion Academy. He imagines a future where the sole survivor, a black woman reconnects with her tribal heritage to look for ways to rebuild and reconstruct what is leftover from the world. In this process she finds a deeper connection with the organic. The fields, once only used and abused, become one with the sole survivor. Her offspring are formed from dust and take just after her, kind yet strong, energetic yet gentle, youthful yet knowledgeable. In this series, we see the woman with her two daughters.

We did not only look at what the future looks like for us. We also reframed the famous series by photographer Dorothea Lange.
Lange made a series for the Depression-era government agency in 1936 formed to raise public awareness of and provide aid to struggling farmers. She photographed Florence Owens Thompson with two children of hers who had been struggling a lot to get food. The woman on the picture looks worried but also very strong. We remade the picture by focussing on the strength of this woman.

In 1936, people of color were mostly depicted with social struggles. Many laws like the laws of Jim Craw kept them from connecting with their roots and nature. We would reframe history to a time and place were the Afro-Americans could show their heritages and show how proud they were on their tribal make-up and hair styles. All of this should have been possible in fashion they love. And in the world of Marc Martha, these fashion would be made of reused materials.

Photography assistant: Louis Kerkhof Fashion designer : Marc Martha Creative direction : Marc Martha Art direction : Ines Vansteenkiste-Muylle
Make up: Johanna Cool & Dorothy Vandemaele Hair : Rama Kourouma Talents: Coulibaly Nandy (Hakim Model Management), Annie-Jozie & Eliane D’almeida

Seen at: Culture Icon zine Issue 2