This exhibition features a multimedia projection and seven 7-foot banners created using digital collage. These images visually mimic the audio sampling used throughout hip hop musical production and the process of crafting a tight DJ set, which inspire the duo. This work prompts a conversation about Black liberation as a reality not yet fulfilled. By centering Black people within the narrative, BLACKMAU prompts the audience to imagine themselves in the spaces with the subject. Robinson and Grantham reference Black liberation texts with With Black Audacious Freedom Dreams, including Freedom Dreams by Robin D. G. Kelley, and We Want to Do More Than Survive by Bettina L. Love, which they include in a study area and curated library of Black texts in the exhibition.

 BLACKMAU, is the collaborative duo of Stacey “BLACKSTAR” Robinson, and psychologist, Kamau “DJ Kamaumau” Grantham.

Funding is generously provided by the TN Arts Commission Art Access Program, Arts & Culture Alliance, Knox County, the Department of the Treasury, Jerry’s Artarama, and UTK co-sponsorship from the Department of Africana Studies, Multicultural Student Life at the Frieson Black Cultural Center, the Office of Community Engagement and Outreach, the School of Design, UT Libraries, and the School of Art Programming Committee.