Published in collaboration with LUMA Arles.
Edited by Flora Katz and Vassilis Oikonomopoulos.
Texts by Norman Ajari, Tina M. Campt, Liam Gillick, Ernest Hardy, Saidiya Hartman, R.A. Judy, Nathaniel Mackey, Fred Moten, Julian Myers, Vassilis Oikonomopoulos, Peter Saville, James A. Snead, Greg Tate, Peter Watts.

Arthur Jafa: Live Evil offers an expansive overview of the work of Arthur Jafa, the American artist and filmmaker whose radical practice explores Blackness through powerful, lyrical, and deeply political imagery. As Wes Hill puts it, Jafa’s work is “a counterpower to anyone who wants to put people of color back in their place.”

Since the 1990s, Jafa has developed a striking body of work combining archival footage, video, music, sound, and installation. He assembles visual and sonic materials to expose historical and systemic violence, resistance strategies, and modes of survival within Black communities. His work challenges the production of images, collective memory, and the ontology of race through experimental and impactful forms.

This richly illustrated catalogue gathers a selection of his most emblematic works, alongside critical essays and conversations with major figures from the fields of contemporary art, cinema, and theory. The publication sheds light on the aesthetic, philosophical, and political dimensions of his practice.

Born in 1960 in Mississippi, Arthur Jafa developed a passion for found imagery at an early age. He has collaborated with Julie Dash, Spike Lee, Solange Knowles, and Stanley Kubrick. He received the Best Cinematography Award at Sundance in 1991 and the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale in 2019. He lives and works in Los Angeles.