Arthur Jafa Addresses His Work for Kanye West: ‘I’m Not Into Discarding Black Folk Simply for Things They Say’

Arthur Jafa, the artist and filmmaker whose work will soon be the subject of an expansive exhibition at New York’s New Museum this month, addressed his decision to make a music video for Kanye West, the rapper whose comments about Jews and the enslavement of Black people have drawn widespread scrutiny.In 2020, Jafa directed a music video for West called “Wash Us in the Blood.” Like other works by Jafa, most notably his famed 2016 video Love Is the Message, The Message Is Death,