JOSIAH WASHINGTON
Black alienation is a particularly interesting phenomenon in which the action of alienating black language, culture, and values isolates entire communities. It labels them as devoid of the wealth and substance attributed to humanity. I grieve our inclusion into this world, questioning the relevance of the contribution of my ancestors to my value today. My piece, One Window or Two, examines the relationship between black alienation, those who are affected by it, and their responses. I drew upon these three sources: “Come Back Pharaoh” by Amiri Baraka, “A Veritable He-Nigger After All” by Scott Trafton, and The Last Angel of History, directed by John Akomfrah.
One Window or Two uses construction paper to build depth and separate the realm of the alienated from that of the dominant culture. I have depicted three featureless figures who are symbolic representations of responses to alienation. The figure on the far left, Akomfrah’s Data Thief, is actively collecting technofossils appropriated by the dominant culture in society. As in The Last Angel of History, their response to alienation is to reconstruct elements of history to envision a new future. The figure in the middle represents the vindicationists. They stand on the fertile ground of knowledge that resembles that of the plane of the dominant realm. The vindicationist figure is reclaiming aspects of history as African. This figure is inspired by artists like Amiri Baraka who vindicate images of ancient Egypt as being African. The figure on the far right is a ghost-like symbol of those among the alienated who have no interest in defending their humanity, reclaiming the African past, or assembling a refined African history. The realm on the left side of the page depicts three pillars of knowledge that attempt to exist independent of the realm of the alienated. My piece draws from Scott Trafton’s explication of the attempt to separate African and European humanities.
I captured the convergence of these two realms via the intrusion of the Data Thief. I wish to illustrate that, although there is alienation of black people, we are actively resisting and reaffirming our existence and relevance in a Eurocentric society.
One Window or Two, 2026
11 × 14 in.
Construction paper, transparent tape, foil, and ink on paper
Sources in Conversation
Amiri Baraka, “Come Back Pharaoh,” on It’s Nation Time: African Visionary Music, 1972.
Scott Trafton, “‘A Veritable He-Nigger after All’: Egypt, Ethnology, and the Crises of History,” in Egypt Land: Race and Nineteenth-Century American Egyptomania (Duke University Press, 2004).
John Akomfrah, dir., The Last Angel of History, 1996.