M. Asli Dukan | |
---|---|
Born | 1973 (age 50–51) Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
Occupation(s) | Filmmaker, visual artist |
Years active | 1999–present |
Known for | Genre of speculative fiction/afrofuturism |
M. Asli Dukan (born 1973) is an American independent media producer, filmmaker and visual artist based in Philadelphia working with themes of speculative fiction and Afrofuturism. [1] [2] [3] [4]
M. Asli Dukan was born in Newark, New Jersey and grew up in Harlem, New York. [5] Dukan credits her family and childhood for influencing her focus on black consciousness and science fiction. [3] [6]
This section of a biography of a living person does not include any references or sources .(January 2024) |
M. Asli Dukan has a Media and Communication Arts Master of Fine Arts from the City College of New York awarded in 1999 and a film production Bachelor of Arts from New Jersey City University in 1997. Filmmaker Ayoka Chenzira was one of her professors.
Dukan is a lecturer [7] at the University of Pennsylvania. [8] She has also taught at the University of the Arts and the City College of New York.
Dukan says she "embraces the futuristic, fantastic and imaginary genres of speculative fiction (SF) as a way to explore the possibilities of social transformation in society." [1] [9] She has written, produced and directed several short SF films that have screened in film festivals across the country, the Newark International Film Festival, the ImageNation Film and Music Festival, the Langston Hughes Film Festival and the Blackstar Film Festival. [8] [10] [11] [12] She has contributed to a scholarly edited volume about Afrofuturism and its trends in multiple media. [4] She founded Mizan Media Productions, a multimedia company that centers Afro-diasporic fiction and non-fiction narratives, in 2000. [13] Through her production company she has directed and produced short speculative fiction films, as well as videos for indie artists and arts organizations. [13]
The "Resistance Time Portal," her mixed-media, augmented-reality installation centered on Black radicalism in a futuristic narrative, made its debut in the Distance≠Time exhibition [14] [15] at the Icebox Project Space, a contemporary arts and culture venue in Philadelphia. [16] [7]
In 2018 Dukan was a judge for the Glyph Comic Awards. [17]
Afrofuturism is a cultural aesthetic, philosophy of science, and history that explores the intersection of the African diaspora culture with science and technology. It addresses themes and concerns of the African diaspora through technoculture and speculative fiction, encompassing a range of media and artists with a shared interest in envisioning black futures that stem from Afro-diasporic experiences. While Afrofuturism is most commonly associated with science fiction, it can also encompass other speculative genres such as fantasy, alternate history and magic realism. The term was coined by American cultural critic Mark Dery in 1993 and explored in the late 1990s through conversations led by Alondra Nelson.
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