Hammons, David - Phat Free

Kwamé Sorrell (Editor). Phat Free. Jamaica, New York: BlackMass Publishing, 2024. Spiral-bound softcover with plastic transparent covers. 89 pages. New, sealed. This book consists of stills taken from the video “Phat Free” David Hammons made circa 1995-1999. "At the beginning of the video there is nothing to see, only noises in the darkness, heard in the moments before images. When the visuals start, we see a figure, filmed in a blur of low-light slow motion, kicking a metal can through the nighttime streets of New York City. As he moves down the street, the kicking takes on a pattern; from noise to a kind of music. And then the video loops and we go back into the dark. But the noises have changed. No longer such a mystery, they now testify to the presence of a person and a place. No longer noise, they are now signals in the dark, reminding us of what just was, and presaging what will soon be again." Published by BlackMass and edited by Kwamé Sorrell. - Publisher Edited by former BlackMass Publishers collaborator Kwamé Sorrell. “Named after Amiri Baraka’s 1966 play A Black Mass, this independent publishing venture was founded by Yusuf Hassan in 2018 with Project BlackMass, a spiral-bound publication with contributions from artists Arthur Jafa, Devin B. Johnson, Jacob Mason-Macklin, Frida Orupabo, Kwamé Sorrell, and others. Hassan and Sorrell, who continue as BlackMass’s publishers today, have produced dozens of zines both separately and together…”–Copy Machine Manifestos, Artists Who Make Zines (2023)."