"Becoming literate in the internal language of African-based arts and culture."
bio
Petra Richterová was born in Prague, Czech Republic [1978]. In 1996, she moved to New York City to study photography with Frank Stewart and attend a liberal arts program at Hunter College, CUNY. While at Hunter, she obtained several grants in support of fieldwork in west Africa which contributed to her Bachelor of Arts degree (2002). In 2004, Petra was awarded a scholarship to pursue graduate studies at Yale University where she then received her Master of Arts (2005), Master of Philosophy (2008), and Doctor of Philosophy (2010) degrees specializing in the Art of Africa and its Diaspora under the guidance of Robert Farris Thompson. As photographer, Petra has worked with Wynton Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center; The Black Rock Coalition and their flagship band, Living Colour; Fishbone front man Angelo Moore; the Cuban rumba ensemble Los Muñequitos de Matanzas; Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés; Moroccan Gnawa musician Hassan Hakmoun; Hip Hop dance duo Les Twins, pioneer Bruk Up dancer Albert "The Ghost" Esquilin and NY vernacular dance platform Roundz of Flame, among others. As researcher and photographer, she has worked in Cuba, Jamaica, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Niger, Senegal, Mali and Morocco. Petra has shown at Columbia University in the exhibit “Making Music with Light: Jazz and the Art of Photography,” as well as Museum of Art and Origins exhibitions titled “Sacred Bond: Mothers, Fathers and Legendary Ancestors” and “Delta to Delta: From the Niger to the Mississippi.” She has contributed photographs for the Studio Museum in Harlem Postcard Series project, and showed at Fábrica de Arte Cubano (Havana, Cuba) in a one-man show titled “Sound of Light.” In 2011, Petra was awarded a Postdoctoral Fellowship at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in support of her research on the roots of AfroCuban dance. As a 2021-22 Scholar-in-Residence at the Schomburg Center For Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library), Petra is currently revising her award-winning doctoral thesis, Rumba: A Philosophy of Motion into a book manuscript (Duke University Press). Sound of Light: Music Photography and Conversations with the Artists, a book based on 25 years of photography focusing on African American performance from jazz to hip hop and rock n'roll, has been completed. Prologue by writer Greg Tate. In 2020, she directed, produced and shot the Afro-cosmic short film ON MY MIND featuring composer and saxophonist Marcus Strickland, vocalist Bilal, MC Pharoahe Monch, and street dancer Storyboard P (Blue Note Records). The film premiered with Afropunk, was under consideration for a Grammy Award in the Best Video category, and won Best Music Video at the Philadelphia Independent Film Festival; Best Body Category at the London Video Music Festival; Best Experimental Film at the ARFF International Competition; a 24K Gold Selection at the Hip Hop Film Festival; and an Award of Excellence at the One-Reeler short film competition, among other accolades. Petra is a Professor of African and African American Art History at Savannah College of Art and Design. She spends her time between New York and Savannah.
More:
- Petra Richterová named Schomburg Fellow / by SCAD
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- "Black Dance Matters: Uniting Cultures with Roundz of Flame" / by Petra Richterová
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- LOVE TRANSCENDS ALL IN MARCUS STRICKLAND’S “ON MY MIND” SHORT FILM / BY TIMMHOTEP AKU
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- Petra Richterova's Film of Spirit and Love by Peter Relic
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- Watch the short film ON MY MIND:
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www.onmymindfilm.com
