words i & ii · Its subject matter, Kafkaesque surrealism, and powerful prose make Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man one of the greatest works of American literature. Although it does undoubtedly address early-twentieth-century race relations head-on, it’s also known as the first novel by a black author not to be an outright protest piece, transcending characterization.

photos · Ellison worked with his good friend Gordon Parks on an Invisible Man photo essay to appear in Life magazine. Some staged, some snapshots of real-life in Harlem, these images play with the lightness and darkness, realism and symbolism, embedded into Ellison’s pages.

music · “And when the Black and Tan Fantasy was played we were reminded not only of how fleeting all human life must be, but in its blues-based tension between content and manner, it warned us not only to look at the darker side of life, but also to remember the enduring necessity for humor, technical mastery and creative excellence.” —Ralph Ellison, “Homage to Duke Ellington on His Birthday,” 1969

film · The Last Black Man in San Francisco is a stunning debut about belonging and friendship by Joe Talbot and Jimmie Fails. Inspired by Fails’ personal folklore and Talbot’s running imagination, this film brings to life a changing San Francisco—from its hope and magnetism to its defeat and toxicity. In many ways, this film recalls Invisible Man, from the way it approaches such a contentious subject with its dreamlike cinematography, to the way it unfurls the heartbreaking effect of suspended disbelief. Jonathan Majors also referenced Elison—amongst other playwrights and authors—as an inspiration, putting an image of him up on his character Montgomery’s vanity.

photograph ii · This meticulously staged photograph, After “Invisible Man” by Ralph Ellison, the Prologue by Jeff Wall draws from his own imagination and the text to give form to the light-filled picture formed in his mind’s eye.

mosaics · New-York based artist Jack Whitten has paid homage to many black visionaries in politics and the arts, including Ralph Ellison in Black Monolith II—the first piece featured here and inspired by our second featured quote from Invisible Man.

words iii · This excerpt from David Henderson’s Neo-California poem, The Exiled, conjures up moments from our film, and is a meditative piece on identity and belonging in the face of oppression. In his Notes from the Woodshed, Whitten describes rubbing elbows with Henderson, who split his time between the Bay and Manhattan since the seventies.