2024.05.30

• Architalk: Seeing the World through Architecture

[Architalk Series 2024 Podcast] Theaster Gates: Afro-Mingei

The Japanese mingei movement, developed by Muneyoshi Yanagi, Kanjiro Kawai, and Shoji Hamada, highlighted the beauty of hand-made crafts used in everyday life that was produced by nameless artisans. The “Black Is Beautiful” movement in the United States, meanwhile, emphasized the beauty embodied in the sources of African-American culture. Theaster Gates sees parallels and connections between these two movements and elucidated his ideas underlying his concept of “Afro-Mingei.”