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April Clare Welsh
24 May 2023, 14:49

Drexciya-inspired immersive exhibition, From The Deep, opens in Washington, D.C

"An immersive, feminist, and sacred aquatopia" inspired by Drexciya's underwater kingdom

Ayana Jackson
Image via the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

A new exhibition, From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya, is now open in Washington, D.C.

The immersive installation by New Jersey-born artist Ayana V. Jackson is exhibited at the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington and on display until April 2024.

Known for their pioneering influence on the Afrofuturist movement, Drexciya's mythological underwater kingdom is the inspiration behind Jackson's "speculative world," and her first creative venture working with video and animation.

The work is described by the museum's senior curator, Karen E. Milbourne, as "an immersive, feminist, and sacred aquatopia where African water spirits from Senegal to South Africa both midwife and protect the Drexciyans".

Find out more about From the Deep: In the Wake of Drexciya here and watch an introductory video below.

Earlier this year, Tresor reissued the 2002 solo album from Drexciya’s late James Stinson released under his Shifted Phases alias. 'The Cosmic Memoirs Of The Late Great Rupert J. Rosinthrope' was originally released just after Stinson passed away on 3rd September 2002, and has remained out of print since then. 

The reissue arrived as part of a run of wider releases from Tresor marking the 20th anniversary of the Drexciya co-founder's passing and the releases of the electro icons' 'Transllusion' and 'Shifted Phases' albums.

Read about how Drexciya's 'The Quest' embedded the Detroit act's mythology in dance music history.