My latest interview with artist/curator Ingrid LaFleur was published in the Bundeskongress Politische Bildung. In case you were unaware, the artist Ingrid LaFleur has imagined and implemented forward-thinking solutions across art, technology, and education for decades. I asked her about her theoretical framework, artistic practice, and social justice work. In one part of the interview, we said the following:
Edna: In 2016, the Senegalese scholar Felwine Sarr published the book Afrotopia. He called for a vibrant meditation and poetic call for the African utopian philosophy of self-invention for the twenty-first century, whereby African became the site of creative potential, economic growth and production. The book was meant to carve a political and intellectual space whereby African epistemologies and technologies were embraced, and climate crisis, as we know it, no longer existed. How do you define utopia and what would it demand to achieve this politically and artistically?
Ingrid: I believe utopias can exist within dystopia. If I learned anything from the city of Detroit, I learned that. A utopia and an apocalypse can happen in the same place. Nevertheless, utopia is an individual thing. It's based on your reality and vision. I think that's why it isn't effortless to create a utopia on a collective level. Someone's utopia could be someone's dystopia. Someone's dystopia can be someone's utopia. For example, when one thinks about slavery, some were utterly contained and enslaved, living in a dystopia, and some people enslaved lived in a utopia. Unfortunately, we will always be able to identify dystopia because that's how we're trained and socialised to do it. And as a result, we gravitate towards dystopia. Nevertheless, I'm not a victim and refuse to be a victim. I have complete control over my life. Africa is my utopia. That doesn't mean Africa is perfect; I'm just saying it's my utopia. Whenever I'm on the African continent, I am home. I feel great. I'm excited about all the innovation and tech in Africa. I go to Africa to learn and bring that knowledge back to Detroit. As Africa becomes more robust, I believe the African diaspora strengthens. And what's even more exciting is the visibility of Africans in the diaspora. People of the African diaspora move through culture. And so most of our resistance, as Black people, comes through our culture. The dream is to bring the people of the African continent together. I think it's possible and very hopeful for everybody else in the diaspora.