(De)Cypher: Dark Notes on the Culture is a black studies journal, experimental thought-space, and creative incubator devoted to the confrontational practice and study of black art, broadly construed. Founded in 2022, this project emerged in response to a perceived lack of critical engagement with both the dynamism and pitfalls of black aesthetic inventiveness against the backdrop of rising political turmoil. Our creative-intellectual practice of decipherment is indebted to Jamaican critic, writer, and playwright Sylvia Wynter who demands black studies practitioners think long and hard about what art does in the world. This is not only a question of how it makes us feel. More radically, we ask: What do you think about how it feels? This is a practice of endless questioning, a journey into the dark with no end in sight.

We publish, interview, and offer creative consulting services to artists and cultural organizations looking to push their practice towards the unimaginable. Armed with a set of tailored questions, we would collaboratively and care-fully deconstruct the philosophical orientation, artistic intention, and desired goals underpinning your project. With open hearts and minds, our exploration together will rupture the very ground of your thought to rebuild your practice of creative thinking, itself.