AFPR Meet The Artists: Fabiola Jean Louis

Meet fabiolajeanlouis, one of the many contemporary artists whose work is featured in Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Her stunning adaptation of the 19thcentury corset dress features a gilded brooch at the neck portraying Ezili Dantor, the loa (spirit) of vengeance in Vodou that helped inspire and guide selfliberated insurrectionists during the Haitian Revolution (17911804). Apart from the jewelry, much of this regal dress is sculpted from modest materialspaper sheets and claycelebrating the creative and radical aspects of the Black imagination, both of which insist on making a way out of no way. With its bold, saturated colors and generous adornments, the ensemble flaunts Victorian ideals of propriety and allows the assertive wearer to push against gendered and racialized expectations. Learn more about the space and see all the artworks on view: , MetAfrofuturist Production Credits: Managing Producer: Kate Farrell Producer: Melissa B