On Futures: Sesshu Foster and Arturo Ernesto Romo

Sesshu Foster and Arturo Ernesto Romo are authors of ELADATL: A History of the East Los Angeles Dirigible Air Transport Lines. A surrealist history that flows backwards and forwards in time, their novel tells a utopian story about airships and revolution—including how groups like the East LA Balloon Club and the Bessie Coleman Aero Club were hard at work to revolutionize travel, with an aim to literally lift oppressed people out of racism and poverty. The text, a series overlapping narratives and imagined artifacts, grew out of a long collaboration between Foster and Romo and is accompanied by drawings, collages, and photographs.

Based in Alhambra, CA, Foster is an award-winning writer. He taught composition and literature in East L.A. for over 20 years, and at the University of Iowa, the California Institute for the Arts, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Romo was born and lives in Los Angeles. His artwork, mostly collaborative mixed media works and drawing, has been circulated internationally.

“On Futures” is a series highlighting how designers, artists, curators, and writers envision alternative cultural and architectural temporalities that map out an expansive range of possible futures.

SCI-Arc Land Acknowledgment
As stewards of the built environment, it’s important for us to acknowledge the history and communities who have inhabited our current spaces. We want to acknowledge that SCI-Arc and SCI-Arc Channel are based on what is historically the homeland of the Gabrielino/Tongva Indigenous peoples who were dispossessed of their land in what is today known as Los Angeles, California.

Crew Credits –

Production:
Creator and Executive Producer – Hernan Diaz Alonso
Producers – Marcelyn Gow/Reza Monahan
Segment Producer/Interviewer – Mimi Zeiger
Director – Marcelyn Gow
Director of Photography – Sean Morris
B Camera – Michael Kolb
C Camera – Jin Chohan
Swing Tech/Driver – Kevin Gerrard
Sound Engineer – Carli Plute

Post-Production:
Story Producers – Cal Crawford/Tanita Enderes
Editors – Cal Crawford/Reza Monahan

Image Credits:

All images/videos not cited below courtesy of Sesshu Foster and Arturo Romo

6:33
“John Wayne”
Public Domain

8:05
“James Banning”
National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution
https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/6520hjpg
Copyright: Smithsonian Institution

8:08
“James Banning”
Smithsonian Institution
https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/si-83-99640jpg
Copyright: Smithsonian Institution

8:11
“James Banning & Thomas Allen”
National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution
https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/4977640jpg
Copyright: Smithsonian Institution

8:22
“Bessie Coleman Aero Club”
National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution
https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/9a01548hjpg
Copyright: Smithsonian Institution

8:27
“James Banning & Thomas Allen”
National Air and Space Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution
https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/6724hjpg
Copyright: Smithsonian Institution

8:30
“Bessie Coleman”
Smithsonian Institution
https://airandspace.si.edu/multimedia-gallery/web11673-2010hjpg
Copyright: Smithsonian Institution