Exploring Afrofuturism in jazz through collage and music

Some years ago I was listening to an online lecture on Afrofuturism and came across the musician Sun Ra. I must admit, it was the name Sun Ra that intrigued me the most. I fell in love with the sound of it while curiosity got me looking into who he was and how his name came about.
Sun Ra was born in 1914 in Alabama as Herman Poole Blount. He took on the name Le Sony'r Ra which he then shortened to Sun Ra after the Egyptian god of the Sun 'Ra'. He was an avant-garde jazz musician pioneering Afrofuturism.
The term Afrofuturism however was coined by author Mark Derry in 1993 to describe an imagination of possible futuristic societies for the African Diaspora which intersects, science, technology, liberation and spiritual enlightenment.
Sun Ra claimed to have come from Saturn and with his music collective Sun Ra Arkestra, performed in futuristic outfits inspired by Ancient Egypt and Space exploration.
Among his many songs, here as a selected few.
Love in Outer Space (1965):
Somewhere in Space (1967):
Space is the Place (1972, film below by the same name released one year later in 1973)
He was one of the earliest users of electronic keyboards and synthesisers in jazz music. With his growing interest in technology and exploring experimental sounds for jazz, he paved the way and inspired future jazz musicians across the world.
Not only was his music influential in afro exploration of space and spirituality, his album covers can also be seen as direct expressions of this and his eccentric persona.
Source of LPs from Europeana website, National museum of Antiquities, CC BY.
I was inspired to create two collages dedicated to him and his influence in jazz titled 'Sun Ra's cosmic sounds' (the first collage in this blog) and 'Door of the cosmos' (the collage below).

During Sun Ra's musical career, jazz musician Miles Davis also explored the theme of Afrofuturism in his music.
Sun Ra was also a great influence to the evolution of John Coltrane, Pharaoh Sanders and Herbie Hancock jazz sound:
Though Afrofuturism started in the U.S and was at its peak influence in the 70s, it has continued to inspire many jazz musicians to this day even on the European continent.
An oscillation between space and spirituality in jazz can still be found for example in a number of U.K Afro jazz musicians. Musician Shabaka through his previous bands Sons of Kemet (Afrofuturism), The Comet is Coming (Astral Flying) and his own solo projects (Black mediation) has produced music around these subjects. He has also performed with Sun Ra Arkestra:
Space can be explored through Nala Sinephro's album Space 1.8 and in her most recent album to come out in 2024 called Endlessness:
Ezra Collective have also covered Sun Ra's Space is the Place and Love in Outer Space:
The way I see it is that Sun Ra's Afrofuturism started out as the answer to a forced removal of people from their nature (home) and the continued oppression and limitations imposed upon the African Diaspora.
The answer being music and seeking a new nature (home in outer space) free from the oppressions on earth but one that doesn't forget its spiritual roots.
Afrofuturism keeps on evolving in jazz with tributes to its pioneer Sun Ra continuing to emerge after his death in 1993. Sun Ra Arkestra carry on his torch to this date through their performances and remain influential in jazz (and other musical genres) today.
'Sun Ra's cosmic sounds', digital collage is a mixture of Wikimedia resources Sun Ra 1973 , Public Domain and Butterfly Nebula in the Sadr Region, CC0 as well as Europeana resources: Astronomy: a diagram of the earth and other planets. Engraving, Astronomy: a diagram of the phases of the moon. Engraving,   Astronomy: a diagram of the sun, and various effects of sunlight. Coloured engraving Public Domain from Wellcome Collection. Compendio de astronomÃa y astrologÃa, manuscrito, by Diego de Torres Villarroel , Tomás VicenteTosca, Gerónimo Cortés, Public Domain, from Valencian Digital Library and Sun Ra - Nidhamu , CC BY from National Museum of Antiquities.
'Door of the cosmos', digital collage is a mixture of Wikimedia resources Capodimonte Deep Field, CC BY and Space is the Place, 1974 film poster, North American Star System Production and El Saturn Research, Public Domain. Europeana sources: Group of Lunar Mountains. Ideal Lunar Landscape by James Nasmyth, from Rijksmuseum, Public Domain. Astronomy: a diagram of the relative sizes of the planets. Coloured engraving, from Wellcome Collection, Public Domain. Figursilhouette vor einem roten Baum, by Friedrich König from Albertina, Public Domain, Kolmnurk by Tiina Viirelaid from Tartu Art Museum, CC0. Triângulo, LuÃs Filipe Oliveira, from University of Aberta, Public Domain. Sternbilder Südliches Dreieck und Leier, from Deutsche Fotothek, Public Domain.