As a child, Jafa assembled binders full of found images in collections he called "the books."[3] He also grew up watching television shows likeI Spy, and science fiction programs.[4]
The science fiction programs Jafa watched as a child have informed his artistic practice as an adult, as seen in his self-portraitLeRage (2017). His work is also inspired by his interest in jazz musicianMiles Davis.[4]
His seven-minute video essayLove Is the Message, The Message Is Death is in the collections of theMetropolitan Museum of Art, thePérez Art Museum Miami,[10] theMuseum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles,The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and theHigh Museum of Art.[1][11] Set toKanye West's songUltralight Beam, the work consists of a series of found images and video clips depicting a range of Black American experiences throughout history which establishes that the black experience is not monolithic, every experience is unique. Among many other clips exploring African American life and resiliency, the video essay juxtaposes recordings of police violence and footage from theCivil Rights Movement with clips of Black artistry, pop culture, celebration, and creativity.[12][13] Jafa himself has connected the ethos of the work with his Catholic roots andGian Lorenzo Bernini'sEcstasy of Saint Teresa.[2] On Friday, June 26, 2020, 13 museums in 7 countries pledged, with Jafa's blessing, to stream the work for free on their respective websites for 48 hours.[14]
Jafa co-founded TNEG along withMalik Hassan Sayeed, a "motion picture studio whose goal is to create a black cinema as culturally, socially, and economically central to the 21st century as was black music to the 20th century".[18] TNEG has produced a number of works such asDreams Are Colder Than Death and the music video forJay-Z's song4:44.[19]
In 2018, Jafa released the approximately forty-minute-long video essay entitledThe White Album, which uses found video clips from CCTV, cell phones, documentaries, and more to explore whiteness and racism in the United States of America.[20][21][22][23] He was awarded theGolden Lion for best artist at the2019 Venice Biennale forThe White Album.[24]
As of 2021, the artists's work is represented by Gladstone Gallery. He is currently[when?] working on a project that is a feature film that focuses on how black music has greatly influenced American culture.
In 2023, Jafa was nominated for the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize for his 2022 exhibitionLive Evil at LUMA Arles in Arles, France. His work was featured alongside fellow Prize nomineesBieke Depoorter,Samuel Fosso, andFrida Orupabo at the Photographers’ Gallery, London, which opened in March 2023.[26][27]
While working on a film withCharles Burnett in 1980, Jafa met the directorJulie Dash. Dash and Jafa married in 1983 and had a daughter, N'Zinga in 1984.[28] The couple later separated, after collaborating on the filmDaughters of the Dust.[28][29]
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