Ruth E. Carter presents her work at the intersection of Afrofuturism and cinema
By McKenna Premus
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Within any culture, you can find your Afro future, no matter what it is.
—Ruth Carter
On Thursday February 17, 2022, the Commonwealth Honors College welcomed costume design visionary Ruth E. Carter to deliver a keynote in Bowker Auditorium for its annual Black Heritage Month celebration. The Springfield native returned to her Western Massachusetts roots and presented “From Honoring Culture to Creating Marvel’s Worlds,” sharing her life’s work in costume design and her contributions to the Afro-Futurist movement in the world of cinema.
Dean Mari Castañeda and Ann Marie Russell, associate dean of student recruitment, inclusion, and success, spoke about the importance of Black Heritage Month before welcoming Carter to the stage.
“In celebration of Black Heritage Month, and its inherent call to commemorate African American heritage, contributions and stories that are an integral part of our nation’s history, Commonwealth Honors College has been calling on our community to gather during this time annually to examine the intersection of art praxis, racial justice, and the embodiment of change as pathways to liberation for many years,” said Russell.
“Together we explore creative scholarship and the ways in which it connects with today’s efforts to create a more inclusive world that centers Black artistry and its critical impact.”
Although Carter confirmed that Wakanda does not, in fact, exist, her work on Black Panther (2018) and numerous other films is evident in her embodiment of Afrofuturism, which serves as the inspiration behind her designs that are rooted deeply in the beauty of African culture.
Carter presented pictures of her designs for the numerous films she has worked on throughout her career, sharing the inspiration behind each one, including School Daze (1988), Malcolm X (1992), and Sparkle (2012), just to name a few.
To give an inside look into her work, Carter walked the audience through her design process for different characters in Black Panther, breaking down the objectives, challenges, and space for creative insight and inspiration with each costume.
For instance, when designing the costumes for the Dora Milaje, the female warriors who serve as the Black Panther’s personal bodyguards, Carter aimed to create designs that would honor the strength of female warriors. And that’s just what she did.
“[The Dora Milaje] are the highest ranking female fighting force of Wakanda. They protect the kingdom. We did not want to put them in cheerleader skirts and bikini tops. We wanted them to be taken seriously,” Carter said.
Carter showed her designs for the intricate costumes, detailing the split-toe karate-style boots worn by the Dora Milaje, the stacked ring collars inspired by the neck rings worn by Ndebele women in South Africa, and the leather that “traveled around the female form honoring the body and the beauty of the body without oversexualizing it.”
“There were many aspects of this costume that honored women as warriors,” Carter said. “And this is how culture and ideas come together.”
Carter continued, “And that’s how we defined Afro future for Black Panther. We took tradition and we examined tradition in a big way, and we looked at the details of how people and their customs define who they are and who they’ve been. We used part of that to honor them for their future, and we fused it in technology to create Afro future.”
A question and answer session followed the end of Carter’s presentation, giving student attendees an opportunity to ask questions about her work and inspiration. When a student asked Carter where she finds her inspiration today, she responded, “Well, being here in Massachusetts with my folks!” prompting smiles and cheers throughout the audience.
“I'm always inspired to learn more about other people. I really am a people person,” Carter continued. “And if I'm given a culture that I know not enough about and I have to portray it in a film, I will do the work, I do the reading, and I consult with historians so when I find something new about a culture that I think nobody else knew, I'm excited to put it out there.”
Carter credits her early experiences in theatre for the ability to approach her work in a unique way.
“I try to approach my film work like a thespian — a theatre-trained artist, because with theatre, you actually go on a journey from beginning to end, you actually can just engulf yourself in the journey of the transformation. There's nothing like theatre… I love theatre so much and I do approach my work as a filmmaker, as a thespian.”
When asked about how she incorporates Afro future features into her daily wardrobe, Carter responded, “I have to admit — I am the anti-fashion,” giving the audience a laugh.
“I have to be comfortable. I'm on my feet all day, so I'm usually in yoga pants or tennis shoes and a t-shirt with a with a North Face jacket. That's me every day and if that's Afro future to you then so be it!”
Over 200 students, faculty, and UMass Amherst community members attended Carter’s presentation, which many felt served as a welcoming and inspirational space for the intersection for Afrofuturism, fashion, theatre, and culture.
“The real and the unreal blend together, and for me, Afrofuturism does a lot of that kind of work, allowing the Black imagination to take center stage in spaces and places where it’s been denied for so long, and… to reimagine the contemporary world through that lens,” said Ide Thompson, a first-year MFA candidate in poetry.
“Fashion becomes a marker of identity and space and place and connection,” Thompson added. “Fashion is hard, but it’s good work. And it’s so tied to cultural identity. Even the way [Carter] blended so many African cultural motifs to create the costumes for the movie is just amazing.”
“As a theater major and as an activist, I think it’s really important that we listen to Black voices right now. Getting to see such a prominent, accomplished Black costume design artist is amazing,” said Taylor Lennon, a senior theater major.
“Carter’s costumes, based on real and imaginative characters, provide an arc to the stories of African Americans that are so intriguing and unforgettable,” Russell concluded. “They influence music, fashion, culture, art, and filmmaking. They help us to understand our heritage and ourselves better.”