Art Direction | Jonathan Fouabi
Photography | Justin Sisson
Writing/Performance | Jonathan
“Suede Jury” Fouabi & Jeary Sylves
Music Production | Jonathan
“Suede Jury” Fouabi

“Slam Magazine 2019” was a multi-media collaboration with art educator Jeary Sylves (Metropolitan Museum Of Art), inspired in part by the print publication of the same name. Using audio, original & archival photography, video, and apparel, we set out to elaborate on sports & art as tandem analogies of the Black experience. The intention was to uplift, educate, and disrupt.The tease phase of the campaign connected the audience to contemporary artworks that approached basketball as a theme or medium (David Hammons, Kehinde Wiley).

Context
At the end of 2019, the New York Times ran an article attempting to summarize what they saw as a sudden ascension of Black art. What they soon realized — based on feedback from actual Black artists — was that their perspective was short-sighted at best; the increased acknowledgement of Black expression by “mainstream” media did not indicate a rise or legitimizing of Black art.With the dust still settling on the NYT misstep, we populated the hashtag #SlamMag2019 with our month-long social campaign, which culminated in the release of the Art World Champions tee. The tee used the aesthetic language of sport apparel to deliver a strong counter-perspective on the lifespan and legacy of Black art.

At its height, the campaign caught the attention of SLAM Magazine Editor-In-Chief Adam Figman.