In the 1990s, Drexciya, a Detroit-based techno duo, imagined an underwater kingdom populated by the offspring of pregnant women who were either pushed or jumped overboard during voyages of the transatlantic slave trade. Since then, many artists—including Ayana V. Jackson—have conjured their own interpretations of this mythical world. In her first solo museum exhibition, Jackson empowers Drexciya’s denizens of the deep through photography and underwater video in which she depicts herself wearing garments designed by collaborators across the African continent.
