The Black Futures Ball 2022

February 26, 2022 at Hawaiʻi State Art Museum

In Africa and our diaspora, masking traditions have for generations been a means for humans to connect to the unseen world, to express our creativity and imagination, to protect us, and have been vehicles to moments of jubilation. Drawing from traditional African masking societies like Ékpè, Kéléké, Ágábá, and Okoroshá, practices like Abakuá, Mocko Jumbies, Bamboula, and Jonkonnu were born in the diaspora. Masquerade is one of the strongest links back to our homelands’ cultures and rituals. Masquerade is transformative, joyful, audacious. Masquerade is a survival technique.

When we are asked to imagine the future we are often drawn into technology, thinking robots and intergalactic travel, of glass and chrome, flying vehicles, and alien encounters. But, drawing on the audacious resilience of our ancestors, the futures that we explore are multidimensional, transcending and bending time and space.

Featuring music from Trishnālei and the Illustrious Blacks, hosted by Kamakakēhau Fernandez

Photos by Vivir Photography

2022 Black Futures Ball Honorees, Keliʻiahonui Kotubetey, Sandra Simms, Moses Goods, and Dr. Allana Coffee

Mahalo nui to all our community sponsors whose support made our Black Futures Ball celebration possible