AFRICOBRA: Messages to the People – Exhibition Catalog

Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami
Publication Contributor
Curator: Jeffreen M. Hayes, Ph.D.

 

As a contributor to the AFRICOBRA: Messages to the People exhibition catalog, I supported the visual and editorial development of this publication, which accompanied MOCA North Miami’s landmark exhibition celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Chicago-based collective AfriCOBRA. The book documents the group’s foundational role in shaping the visual language of the Black Arts Movement in the 1960s and 1970s and later served as a companion to AFRICOBRA: Nation Time at the 2019 Venice Biennale.

 

My exhibition logo design is featured prominently on the book’s cover—a modern interpretation of AfriCOBRA’s original 1970s visual identity. Drawing from hand-drawn typography, African patterns, and color symbolism found in the group’s manifesto, the logo honors their legacy while offering a contemporary aesthetic fit for both print and international presentation. The catalog merges historical reflection with graphic clarity, paying tribute to a movement that changed the course of American art history.

 

Artists featured: Sherman Beck, Jeff Donaldson, Jae Jarrell, Wadsworth Jarrell, Napoleon Jones-Henderson, Barbara Jones-Hogu, Omar Lama, Carolyn Mims Lawrence, Nelson Stevens, Gerald Williams

 

Book Design: Miko McGinty, Rebecca Sylvers