Ajuan Mance. 1001 Black Men: Masculinity at the Intersections, SIGNED w/ PRINT

Mance, Ajuan. Desert Hot Springs, StackedDeck Press, 2022.  

English, First Edition, HC, size and measurements, 255 pp.

ISBN: 9780999647264

Fine hardcover in pictorial paper over boards featuring the artwork of Ajuan Mance to front and back covers, white lettering to front cover, white lettering over black spine, full color pictorial endpapers featuring Mance’s portrait series, SIGNED by the artist on the title page. Includes SIGNED LIMITED PRINT 1 of 5/image 473. No visible shelf wear, no dustjacket as issued. 255 pp. Includes the complete series of full-color illustrations from the eponymous series by Ajuan Mance. Also includes a Foreword by Shawn Taylor, an Introduction by the artist, and interviews, essays and poems by contributors Myronn Hardy, Roger Porter, Gabriel Cortez, Landon Smith, Major Jackson, and Raymond Holbert, and an Afterword by Douglas Taylor.

Mance, a visual artist, author, editor, and a professor of Ethnic Studies and English at Mills College in Oakland, California, worked on this project over a period of six years, as a digital sketchbook on her blog. This project explored the intersection of blackness and masculinity, at the same time attempting to subvert the appropriation of Black male identity by drawing the men she encountered every day exactly as they are. With contributions from, as Mance states in her blog, “some of the most interesting Black male poets, authors, and activists of our time. The result is a snapshot of the African American community as understood through a diverse array of images and voices of Black men.” A gift-worthy book and rare print.