Numerologies (class notes from Black Man in the Cosmos, Spring 71), Jamal Cyrus

Jamal Cyrus transforms old jeans and their cotton thread into quilt-like works that, in his words, “document aspects of Black political history.” The numbers reference FBI surveillance files about the Black Arts Repertory Theatre/School (BARTS), a Harlem arts organization founded by poet, scholar, and activist Amiri Baraka. They also reference “dream books” popular during the Harlem Renaissance used to interpret dreams and convert them into numbers. The title references a course taught by musician Sun Ra at the University of California, Berkeley in 1971. In this work, Cyrus collages together histories of suppression with celebratory commemoration.