AfroRussia

2019

Liz Johnson Artur’s video AfroRussia, which she completed for her solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in 2019, documents the stories of Russians of African and Caribbean descent. After connecting with her Ghanaian father for the first time in 2010, the London-based artist traveled to Russia “to hear stories in Russian by Russians who look like me,” she says. Like Johnson Artur, many were born to Russian mothers and African or Caribbean fathers who studied in Eastern Europe as part of the Soviet Union’s efforts to expand its influence during the Cold War. Growing tensions between the foreign students and white Soviets resulted in violence and protests in the Soviet Union and several Eastern Bloc countries, and many of the students were given exit visas after graduating, although some had already formed relationships and had children. After meeting and filming numerous subjects, Johnson Artur says, “We all agreed that we felt Russian as well as African.”