It is no understatement to call “Black is King” a visual feast full of specific, purposeful nods and homage paid to continental Africa and its plethora of cultures. Director, writer, producer and 24-time Grammy winner Beyoncé Knowles-Carter worked with a range of researchers, experts and directors — not to mention musicians, singers, dancers and artists — to craft a visual album centered on the richness of the African diaspora. The story arc is adapted from “The Lion King” and was shot in various locations, including the U.S., U.K., Ghana, South Africa and Belgium.
“Black is King” is also a testament to Beyoncé’s own contextualization — as a prominent Black American entertainment icon — of her heritage, says Carina Ray, associate professor of African and African American studies at Brandeis University.
“When I look at ‘Black is King,’ what I see is an auto-ethnographic record, one in which Beyoncé is placing herself at the center of her exploration of African and African diaspora culture and history,” says Ray, via email. “What’s ‘authentic’ about “Black is King” is its portrayal of how Beyoncé imagines/understands/conjures Africa and her relationship to it as an Afrodiasporic woman.”
Below is a not nearly exhaustive list of some of the culturally specific imagery featured in “Black is King.”
Gele
Throughout the visual album, Beyoncé dons various striking head wraps or gele in the Yoruba language of southwestern Nigeria, per Ray. Head wraps are used in many African cultures, albeit with different names.
Elaborate styles of gele are worn for ceremonies and special occasions, like weddings. They are crafted from various fabrics, including ones from Austria and Switzerland that are stiff enough to be molded into specific shapes, and the traditional aso-eke, a hand-woven cloth, made in west Africa.
Ndebele house painting
The video accompanying the track “Keys to the Kingdom” centers on the wedding between Simba and Nala from “The Lion King” and depicts the tradition of house painting as practiced by the Ndebele people of South Africa. The colorful geometric designs, usually on the sides of houses or walls, are traditionally done by women. Scholars believe the designs are derived from centuries-old beadwork patterns and evolved into painting following Dutch colonialism in the country. The designs themselves can have personal significance to the painter regarding identity, emotions and marital status.
African American flag
To close out the track “Already,” Beyoncé features the image of the African American flag being waved. The flag itself — with its stars and stripes — is modeled after the U.S. national flag and is a 1990 piece by artist David Hammons. Hammons utilized the red, black and green colors of the Pan-African flag, designed by Jamaican political activist Marcus Garvey in 1920. The Pan-African flag is also known as the Black Liberation flag or UNIA (United Negro Improvement Association) flag.
“Part of the impetus for this piece of art was to represent the marginalization of African American artists, or rather Black artists more broadly speaking, in Europe,” says Oneka LaBennett, associate professor of American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California. “So, the flag is this powerful representation of the ways in which Black artists had been marginalized, but it has become, since then, a symbol of Black liberation.”
West African masquerades
According to Ray, South African singer Busiswa’s dress in the visual track for “My Power” — with its layers and flamboyant bright tassels — is a nod to the West African tradition of masquerades. From harvest festivals to rites-of-passage, the tradition of donning elaborate head-to-toe costumes, complete with masks, is not relegated to West African countries alone: central African cultures and other countries, like Haiti, also partake.
Braided crown
Among the many hairstyles Beyoncé dons throughout “Black is King” are braids fashioned into a crown, as seen in the track “Brown Skin Girl.” It’s not the first time she has featured the hairstyle: she wore braids styled to resemble Nefertiti’s crown in the video for “Sorry” from 2016’s “Lemonade.”
Hairstylist Neal Farinah shared on social media that the look was inspired by a style originated by the Mangbetu tribe of eastern Congo and their practice of Lipombo or head elongation.
“The style was created to accentuate the [elongation] of the skull represented royalty and was a status symbol,” Farinah wrote.
The South Asian diaspora
U.K.-based model/artist Sheerah Ravindren and illustrator Jasmin Sehra are among the women featured in the visual track for “Brown Skin Girl,” their inclusion seemed to be a nod to non-Black women of color. Per Ravindren — who is of Sri Lankan Tamil descent — via an Instagram post, she was picked by British Nigerian director Jenn Nkiru to be included.
“Such a blessing to be in this beautiful art piece that shows the beauty and power of Blackness. [Just] to be able rep the Tamil and South Asian folx for those few seconds for Beyoncé is an honor,” wrote Ravindren.
Dogon masks
During the track “Find Your Way Back,” Beyoncé is featured alongside two dancers wearing masks inspired by the traditional face coverings worn by the Dogon peoples of Mali. One of the most popular types of masks is known as kanaga; they are worn at rituals called dama which mark the end of mourning and the passage of the soul of the deceased to the land of the ancestors.
Blitz Bazawule, one of the seven directors who worked with Beyoncé on the project, called out the symbolic reference to the Dogon peoples’ iconography and celestial mythology via social media.
“The fact that the Dogon had already charted complex interplanetary movements and constellations 5000 years before telescopes has always been mind blowing to me,” Bazawule wrote. “Centering them in a Beyoncé project as powerful as Black Is King hopefully inspires millions around the world to research and learn more about their genius.”
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