The African Cosmogram Matrix in Contemporary Art and Culture

This article examines the ways in which scholars analyze and reconcile the symbols and the ideology of an ancient African (Kongo) symbol called a cosmogram. Ritualistic spaces that symbolically overlap with the Christian crucifix and Buddhist mandala, graphic imagery in the mapping, layering and cyclical rhythms of space and motion in visual art, as well as performance, sound and film all fall into this focus. For instance, this effort includes the mythology of P-Funk that include a group of recurring characters, themes and ideas related in a series of concept albums, primarily from George Clinton and his founded bands Parliament and Funkadelic. Contemporary artists and practitioners of Afrofuturism construct cosmic centers such as cosmograms that are mental maps of spiritual places and spaces that represent African Atlantic cultural improvisation and the wholeness of the Universe.