What is Outer-Afro?

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Outer-Afro is an exploration of the transcendental qualities of the natural world while challenging essentialist notions of blackness. Black people are regularly defined and boxed in by narrow ideas of what it means to be Black, and those ideas rarely involve us in nature. Outer-Afro celebrates our multiplicity. We cannot be contained by concrete constructions, and we are closer to the earth than we know.

 

Outer-Afro is also an ode of sorts to my own journey as a Black man who loves the outdoors. “Outer” is a nod to the idea of being on the fringe as well as the concept of being “out”. Many of us go through a journey becoming comfortable in both knowing who we are and publicly sharing aspects of ourselves. I want to push back on the notion that Black and brown people who love nature are on the margins. There are many of us out there and unacknowledged. But getting outside can be unwelcoming and difficult for a range of reasons including this country’s deep history and present day threat of white supremacist violence. Some of my work alludes to the perilous dynamics we live with when we step out.

 

Outer-Afro is also, at its core, a tribute to the infinite beauty and inspiration of the natural world. There can be deep revelation in watching the break of dawn from a mountain top, and a transformative humility that comes from soaking in the vast universe revealed by the late-night sky far away from electric lights.

 

Ultimately, I want this project to make people smile, think, and perhaps yearn to explore. Although Outer-Afro leans on the light side, we should make no mistake that our disconnection from nature is an existential threat. For now, at least one path toward a better future is to step into the wild.

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- david rogers