Jessi Jumanji calls herself an Afrofuturist who uses art as a form of self-discovery. In her series called "The Distant Relatives: Familiar Faces", she pairs up well-known people, such as Michelle Obama, John Boyega, Alicia Keys, and Daniel Kaluuya, of the African diaspora with their visual "counterparts" from the past.
Jumanji started this series a few years ago when she began researching her family history. "I discovered some old family photographs after my grandfather died, and I was blown away by the striking similarities in appearance that have manifested through the generations," Jumanji told Afropunk. "I matched an old picture of my great-great grandmother with a recent picture of my aunt and it was spot on. It gave me a newfound sense of pride and identity."
The artist then realized that because of the negative effects of colonization and slavery, the knowledge of self is a missing link for many black people in America. That's when she decided to create mashups of famous people with their native African counterparts to show how closely they are connected to African roots. "My studies in African history began to overlap with my interest pop culture when I noticed that some of the photographs I’ve collected over the years resembled many of the black superstars we are fans of. I wanted our culture to be celebrated in the same way. We should be fans of our ancestors."
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