If you were in a horror movie, who would you be? Realistically, if you are a woman, you have two options. You can either be the Whore-the one who dies first (besides the black person) – or you can be the virgin, a.k.a. the Final Girl. Either way, be prepared to have the time of your life…and death? You’re going to have to go through the journey of being chased in your underwear, running in slow motion, falling, and screaming – lots of screaming. There is no escaping it.
In this series, I explore the potential and power of black knowledge and re-frame our current narrative by speculating an alternative cinematic afro past and present through the lens of horror movies. I employ magical thinking and Afrofuturism to enter the realm of horror and manipulate these common tropes. Focusing on the character archetype of the “Whore,” I imagine how my contemporary black female cultural background and style would be represented in a genre I am hardly ever depicted in. While confronting the oversexualization of women in this genre, I create a space where the side character becomes the main character and survives.
