Alisha Wormsley’s There Are Black People in the Future is an afro-futurist interdisciplinary body of work; video, prints, collages, sculptures, and most recently, a billboard. In 2018 that slogan was removed from a billboard in a newly gentrified neighborhood in Pittsburgh by developers. For the artist, its removal transformed that one slogan into a movement, one in which the public was encouraged to use her words for the betterment of the world around them.

Wormsley’s Kansas City iteration came at a time when many Black voices began to rise in City. With the daily Black Lives Matter protests and the creation of the six massive BLM murals painted across the city, this project became another way to uplift the voices of our local Black communities.

For this project, nine local artists were invited to respond to Wormsley’s proclamation— There Are Black People in the Future. The artists came from a range of different backgrounds working in a range of different mediums. The selected artists were purposefully intergenerational so that multiple generations’ perspectives were included. Though it was of upmost importance to amplify Black voices, it was also important to include key Brown and Indigenous community members to show the beauty and power in solidarity.

The final installation sat in the heart of Kansas City’s Crossroads Art District on the Goethe Pop Up’s storefront windows. We could not be more grateful to have seen the project unfold and our community be introduced to such a beautiful project and its newest iteration. To be taken out of the present moment, even for a small period of time, to do something as radical as dream of a better future is something we all deeply needed.

With much gratitude I thank Alisha Wormsley, for having allowed us to occupy this space with her, and everyone else whom this project has touched.

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