Meet the Artist: Ini Archibong

Meet Ini Archibong, one of the many contemporary artists whose work is featured in "Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room."

“I think for a lot of us, when we were kids, our ability to envision a future that was different than some of the things that we didn’t like that we were seeing around us was to escape into a fantasy and envision a future that’s more akin to a superhero comic book than it is to actual reality—and I think that comes through in my work and a lot of the people that express visions in an Afrofuture.” – Ini Archibong

Meet Ini Archibong, one of the many contemporary artists whose work is featured in “Before Yesterday We Could Fly: An Afrofuturist Period Room.” Born in California to Nigerian parents and trained in Europe, Archibong incorporates luxurious and technologically daring materials in his designs with influences from folklore, mysticism, astronomy, and music to create a distinctly futuristic aesthetic.


Two men stand together in a black-and-white photo. The man in front wears sunglasses, a patterned coat, and a beret. The man behind wears glasses and a jacket, exuding a serious, contemplative mood. Dark buildings silhouette the background.
My search for meaning in Black style began as a search through ancestry to reveal beauty and complexity over time and across traditions of expression.
Grace Wales Bonner
August 15
Young Black man standing in a body of water, upright looking up at the sky. He wears a traditional African attire, while one hand extends above him.
How do African dress traditions shape and inspire the possibilities of contemporary fashion and Black identity?
Idelle Taye
August 8
Cover of "Dan Burley's Original Handbook of Harlem Jive" shows a stylized person in a plaid suit and hat, set against bold, vintage typography.
Discover the foundational history of jive culture in the United States as a form of expression.
Brent Hayes Edwards
July 18
More in:IdentityBlack HistorySocial Change