Lens on Creativity: Question Bridge, Black Males

Spotlight: Question Bridge: Black Males (New Media Award 2015)

What is the power of a question? How could a question change the world? Who are you? What is your purpose in life? What does it mean to you to be a black man? These are only some of the many questions posed by the innovative transmedia art project Question Bridge: Black Males, a project pioneered by Chris Johnson, Hank Willis Thomas, Bayeté Ross Smith, Kamal Sinclair and Jesse Williams.

The team of artists traveled around the country for four years filming black men as they posed questions to other black men and responded to questions themselves. Over 1,500 question and answer exchanges from over 160 men were collected. “We wanted to provide an opportunity for black males to define themselves in their own words, through their own perspective and kind of acknowledge their speaking of their truth,” said Smith.

The team shared the video-mediated question and answer exchange online and the artists also engineered a mobile app, video installation, dozens of community engagement events, and an innovative curriculum. “Our hope is to really move the needle on the implicit bias that people have towards African-American men,” said Thomas.

Although the project is tailored towards the male African-American community, it was also designed with another goal in mind: spreading awareness amongst other racial communities and allowing people to become, in the words of Chris Johnson, privileged witnesses to an inner conversation happening amongst men being men.”

— The Lens on Creativity series features this year’s ICP award winners, sharing their creative inspiration, vision and groundbreaking work.