Kurudi
Artist Statement
This work follows a fictional Drexciyan researcher investigating the possibility of Drexciyans living on land. Drawing from the Afrofuturist mythology of Drexciya—an underwater civilization descended from the unborn children of African women lost during the Middle Passage—the work imagines a moment of transition in which a society shaped by the ocean begins to contemplate a terrestrial future. As the researcher surveys the surface world, their mission expands beyond adaptation. The return to land becomes an act of remembrance, driven by a desire to confront historical amnesia and remind contemporary society of the transatlantic slave trade that gave rise to Drexciyan existence. Emerging from the depths, the Drexciyans serve as living archives, carrying memories that have endured beneath the ocean for generations and reintroducing histories that continue to shape the present.
I believe in the power of mythmaking as a tool for reimagining what could have been or what might have existed within the historical narrative. My interest in the mythology of Drexciya began several years ago after encountering the music and worldbuilding of the Detroit-based techno duo Drexciya. I was deeply drawn to its narrative of rebirth and transformation, the idea that beauty, possibility, and new forms of life could emerge from profound trauma. Specifically, I was captivated by how the mythology reimagines the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade through survival rather than disappearance. That framework felt essential to Kurudi, which explores memory, ancestry, and the ways imagined histories can help us understand ourselves and envision alternative futures.
