COSMOGRAM

A cosmogram is a flat geometric picture depicting a cosmology. A symbol that tells a story. A belief system embedded within design.

The cosmogram depicts harmony between spirit and matter, precursors for conceptions of the ‘tangible vs. virtual’. It also anticipates the binary of oral vs. written culture, which has often been used as the rubric to determine the cultural sophistication of civilizations. The cosmogram is at once a conceptual framework, as well as a formal design. It is a way of doing things, and it is also the thing that is done. Expressing harmony between form and function, matter and spirit, the cosmogram is an African retention that has survived the Transatlantic Slave Trade and endured into contemporary Afro-Diasporic art.