Imagine the famous Met Gala with a futuristic theme and African art, music and culture, all in honor of Black motherhood.
That event, Echoes of the Future: An Afrofuturist Birthscape, is coming to Cleveland City Hall this Sunday, Sept. 14.
“We want it to be like a Met Gala,” said Errin Weaver, an event organizer, “for people to really embrace Afrofuturism [and] come dressed in Afrofuture wear.”
Afrofuturism and the connection to motherhood
Weaver is a creative contributor with All Our Babies, an initiative focused on uplifting Black families and the event’s organizer. She said experts have named four pillars of the Afrofuturism genre of art: mysticism, liberation, technology and imagination. Afrofuturism is often also linked to science fiction and fantasy.
It’s “like stepping into a time machine,” said Jameelah Rahman, lead artist for the project.
Echoes of the Future: An Afrofuturist Birthscape, a one-night-only gala and exhibition, will be held from 4:30-9 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 14, in the City Hall Rotunda, 601 Lakeside E. It is free to attend.
The All Our Babies art exhibition project is funded by the City of Cleveland’s Transformative Art Fund, a $3 million allotment of ARPA money set aside specifically for supporting the arts.
“Many don’t line up Afrofuturism with [Black maternal health],” said Weaver, “but it’s not all about the data and the numbers. We know that [Black maternal health in Cleveland is] bad, but how do we envision what the possibilities could be? …It lies firmly in the foundation of Afrofuturism because we’re looking at, how can we imagine better for ourselves?”
The event will feature a fashion show, which began as a collection of women’s birth stories and a photo shoot featuring 11 expectant mothers in an Afrofuturist setting. Local designers created unique designs for the women, said Weaver, “to embody and symbolize culture and pride.”
Artists for the shoot leaned into the hair braiding, adornment, makeup and face painting, Weaver said. “[It] is very rooted in our culture.”
“On African fabrics, the symbols are very important,” she said. “They’re tied to different families, different cultures, different communications. They are beautiful, but also have a function as well.”
It should “feel like joy,” Weaver added. “It should feel like and look like African-rooted culture. So you should see bold prints. You should see the shells and the beads, and the dramatics of the fabrics.”
The photos will be unveiled at the exhibition, and the fashion show will feature the designs worn in the shoot.
“You’ll see a lot of bold shapes that are reminiscent of what it could be if we’re in the future,” Weaver added. “These should be a step up and a step out into another world.”