Arthur Jafa: I Am Tony, published in association with the New Museum

Across his career, Arthur Jafa has sought to find new visual forms to capture the rhythm and realities of Black life in America. This is the most comprehensive survey of his work to date, spanning over four decades of his career and more than 25 acclaimed works.

Richly illustrated with 165 images representing the full breadth of the artist s practice, including his films, videos, installations, photographs, and sculptures, this expansive survey includes Jafa s most acclaimed works, the resounding Love is the Message, The Message is Death (2016) and the Golden Lion winning The White Album (2018), as well as other large-scale video and film installations and a range of sculptural and photographic objects.

Jafa has been gradually building a filmic language whose syncopations and textures match the aspirations of Black popular music and has built a staggering visual archive that cuts across histories and arenas of culture.

Jafa s acclaimed and resonant films have captured the collective imagination and experience of America amidst the nation s growing awareness of the long history of institutional violence directed toward the Black community, placing this awakening against a backdrop of the century-long ascension of Black culture, music, and entertainment to the forefront of our national identity.

Accompanying a major solo exhibition at the New Museum in New York, the book includes an interview with Jafa as well as new contributions from preeminent scholars and writers, including Judith Butler, Mark Godfrey, Ekow Eshun, J. Hoberman, Kara Keeling, Lawrence Rinder, Martine Syms, Hamza Walker, and Simone White. This is the most comprehensive presentation, to date, of the work of one of the most important and influential artists of this generation.