Jae Jarrell N’Vest-ing in the People: The Art of Jae Jarrell by D. Denenge Duyst-Akpem 1977 dawned on a Nigeria brimming with AFRICOBRA (African Commune of promise, full with the spoils of Niger Bad Relevant Artists)—the Delta oil and national pride 17 years legendary collective established in post-independence. It was a time of 1968 on Chicago’s south side with afrobeat musical innovation, of the goal to uplift and celebrate cross-continental exchange, of Black community, culture, and vibrancy and possibility. A contin- self-determination.1 Jae describes gent of 250 artists and cultural the journey as a “traveling party,” a producers selected by artist Jeff veritable who’s who of famous Donaldson and the U.S. organizing Black artists, and recalls thinking, committee, traveled from New York “If the afterlife is like this, then to Lagos, Nigeria, on two planes that’ll be alright!” 2 chartered by the U.S. Department of Foreign Affairs, to participate in Imagine the moment. The outline of FESTAC ’77, the Second World West Africa appears on the distant Black and African Festival of Arts horizon. Excitement mounts as the and Culture. Among them were Jae densely inhabited shorelines and and Wadsworth Jarrell, two of sprawling metropolis of Lagos Donaldson’s fellow co-founders of (pronounced “ley” “goss”) come into view, and even in the air condi- co-founder and curator Gerald Arts6 held in Dakar, Senegal in singer and civil rights activist tioned plane, you can feel the trop- Williams reflected on the cultural 1966 hosted by visionary President Miriam Makeba lovingly known as ical rays as the plane inches closer and creative impact of partici- Léopold Sédar Senghor, FESTAC “Mama Africa,” the awe-inspiring to landing. Waves of hot equatorial pating in such an exposition, ’77 highlighted Black World crea- dance company of Guinea Les air envelope your body as the affirming of the iconic festival that tive impulse, showcasing the Ballets Africains, and cosmic plane’s doors open, and you step “FESTAC was everything!” 3 This artistic and cultural wealth of over composer, visionary Sun Ra. out into harmattan-dusted sun, the convening and display of worldwide 50 nations. Estimates are that heat pressing against your pores, Black artistic flourishing was a between 500-600 African Jae Jarrell was commissioned by Jeff inhabiting your breath, carrying moment of pure celebration, an American artists participated. As Donaldson to chair the FESTAC ’77 you forward as if buoyed by a tan- opportunity for cross-cultural noted by historian Arthur Monroe Modern Dress Fashion Show. gible force, rippling the tarmac as collaboration, and a site of trans- in an article for Black Scholar later Jarrell curated eight designers you disembark down slight shaky formation for those who experi- that year, it was “the largest group from the U.S., including one who metal steps and move toward the enced it. It was “nation time” at its of African American artists ever to worked exclusively with kente terminal. Scents dance through boldest, its most beautiful, its return to Africa as a single group.”7 cloth. The show also featured your nostrils, whiffs of dust and Blackest, mirroring in its formation He notes that, overall, 17,000 Black Jarrell’s suits in her signature pure sweat and cement, fried plan- these excerpts from AFRICOBRA’s artists and 500,000 spectators leather and suede. Nigerian women tain with pepper, bus exhaust, and manifesto: “It is Nation Time and participated in the two-month-long modeled, along with some of the machine oil-hardened earth. The we are searching. In the spirit of event, which covered every disci- designers. The fashion show was sounds of an endless clamoring Nation-ness we are examining the pline—from painting to sculpture, held over two days in front of an cityscape, rich with cultural drive, roots and branches of our African performance and music, fashion enthusiastic, vocal, packed audi- deliver promise in the awakening of Family Tree for the seeable which is and art historical antiquities ence of hundreds. Each designer’s a new national day. most expressive of our people/art. including selections from the collection was presented together We are trying to make images magnificent Benin Empire, Nok, on a “T”-shaped runway choreo- Into this swirling space, Jae Jarrell and inspired by sublimely Superreal and Ekiti region—birthplace of graphed to showcase two models the U.S. FESTAC ’77 contingent African people…images that all renowned early 20th century at a time, as if one were viewing a stepped into a new page of history, African people can dig on directly.”4 sculptor Olowe of Ise—to architec- street scene, saturating the audi- helping to shape an epic moment Williams shared in a recent inter- ture of the great Māli Empire and ence with that designer’s work, that lives to this day as FESTAC view that the artists emphasized other flourishing ancient African with models offering a “tip of the Town, a housing estate originally “the spirit of the age…the concept civilizations. FESTAC ’77 was the hat” as they passed each other. It constructed for the festival which of Black pride—Black is beautiful— place to be—“an affirmation of life”8 was a lively affair where the audi- remains a neighborhood in Lagos, and a positive outlook on life.”5 and unity amongst African peoples ence was as much a part of the immortalizing those dynamic two of the world. The many notable experience as the models and weeks. In a 2018 panel at the As with its predecessor, the First World artists who attended and garments. As poet, dramatist, and DuSable Museum of African Festival of Black Arts, also known performed included the incompa- educator Kalamu ya Salaam American History, AFRICOBRA as the First World Festival of Negro rable Stevie Wonder, South African discusses in The Magic of Juju: An Appreciation of the Black Arts shows, with the hope of one day force after snipping the metal band conceptual work which allows the Movement, with the flowering of opening her own shop. She holding the barrel together! Jarrell wearer to be surrounded in protec- Black poetics and performance debuted her first collection titled designed and built everything as tion and support by the painted modes during the late 60s and 70s, Fashion Safari in Spring 1963, clients who were models came brethren, an homage to community the Black aesthetic of call-and-re- which she describes as “daytime, through for fittings. Later, these as family and Black Panther unity sponse intentionally rooted artists’ afternoon and evening wear, a full furniture constructions were trans- during this time of constant attack success in Black community selection showcasing what I could ferred to the new shop, including a by government forces. It was reception and engagement, giving do, a ‘spicy’ collection designed for mushroom style round sofa built during the Jarrell family’s brief primacy to African-derived Chicago.”10 One-of-a-kind suits and from an oak table, the legs of which move to Boston in 1971 due to systems of value.9 coats were her specialty, estab- she replaced with shorter ones and violence in Chicago—before lishing the design style she has then upholstered with impeccable accepting Wadsworth’s teaching Born in Cleveland, Ohio to a family with a followed throughout her career. An tailoring and piping detail. The position at Howard University—that sister and three older brothers, advisor to Mrs. Johnson of Johnson center portion of the sofa was Jarrell entered what she calls her Jarrell is the grand-daughter of a Publications saw Jarrell’s debut line taller than the circular seating area “angry period,” fueled by the injus- fine tailor and apprenticed in and after a meeting with the to allow customers to rest their tices befalling Panthers and Black fashion and business to her haber- legendary founder, commissioned backs in comfort with magazines activists throughout the country. dasher uncle’s shop. She attended her to design an eveningwear gown provided. For Jarrell, the focus has With limited space but ample time Bowling Green State University for the iconic annual Ebony Fashion always been on display and pres- to reflect on news relayed through then moved to New York and later, Fair, an important moment for the entation. Work areas were smaller the Black Panther Party news- Boston. The School of the Art designer’s burgeoning practice. and tucked away, though she later paper, whose images of and from Institute of Chicago’s fashion secured another space in the same the people were conceived by program drew her to the city, Chicago was a site of great artistic building at 5139 S. Blackstone, Emory Douglas, BPP Minister of though at the end of her second output and was transformative in which she used for cutting and Culture and Revolutionary Artist, year, she decided to move on, ready Jarrell’s early career. With the tailoring. Assistants—three she began working on the wall as to embark on her own career. She launch of Jae of Hyde Park, she students from a nearby high school their belongings were in storage moved to her first Chicago apart- incorporated her furniture projects who did beautiful handwork and and she was without a sewing ment in the Chatham neighbor- into the storefront, which she stayed working with her for three machine. She painted onto textiles hood, a thriving, bustling center of continues in her contemporary years until graduation—had to such as burlap, the texture of industry and Black community. sculpture practice, setting the prove themselves before they were which enabled braiding at the Here, she turned her focus to sewing machine aside to “sew with trusted with her scissors.