02 · Chicago, South Side · founded 1968
AfriCOBRA & the Cool-Ade Aesthetic
AfriCOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists) grew out of Chicago's Organization of Black American Culture, the group behind the 1967 Wall of Respect mural. Five founding artists set out to build a visual language that was unmistakably, intentionally Black — bright, legible, and made for the street rather than the gallery. They called their palette "Kool-Aid colors," named for the vivid, everyday drink mix everyone in the neighborhood grew up on.
Barbara Jones-Hogu
1938–2017
Jones-Hogu was one of AfriCOBRA's five founders and wrote much of the group's manifesto. Her screenprints stack bold, interlocking human figures with hand-lettered text that reads almost like a chant — phrases repeated across the composition until they become pattern as much as message. She chose printmaking specifically because prints could be made cheaply and shared widely; accessibility was the point, not a limitation.
Look for
- saturated cool-ade palette
- figures stacked at rhythmic angles
- hand-lettering woven into the image
- repetition used as rhythm
- flat unshaded color
You've walked the cycle for 02.
Now take that language into the lab: pick your layers, roll the dials, and pull prompts in this style — always carrying Diaspora imagery.