Afrosurrealist and artist David Brame will be at the Anchorage Museum this Friday to celebrate the release of his newest work, “Wildmen of Denali” — a comic created by the late author Richard Perry, produced by Łuk’ae Tse’ Taas and illustrated by Brame.
Brame said he created artwork for Perry’s “Wildmen of Denali” before his death, and helped bring the project to completion. The story takes place in a “post-apocalyptic utopian future,” featuring an Alaska Native family as they navigate their way through an “Indigenous, futuristic Alaska landscape.”
Brame is part of “Łuk’ae Tse’ Taas,” or “Fish Head Soup Comics” — an Alaska artist collective honoring Indigenous cultures. The group features Brame, as well as Nathan Shafer, Dimi Macheras and Casey Silver.
“We’re an artist collective in Alaska … people who are using comics to tell Indigenous-featured stories and stories of Indigeneity,” Brame said. “I was just trying to find ways to connect Afrofuturism with other types of storytelling, so it was like serendipity that [Shafer and I] bumped into each other.”
Brame has had a prolific artistic career, starting from when he was a young child reading comics with his uncle. He studied painting and illustration at the University of Cincinnati, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts. He was a contributor to “Young Men In Love: A Queer Romance Anthology,” a graphic novel that earned the GLAAD Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel or Anthology, as well as the American Library Association’s award for Great Graphic Novel for Teens.
“My uncle taught me how to draw cartoon strips like Sunday funnies, when I was four or five [years old] or something like that,” Brame said.
Brame is constantly drawing — whether that’s comics, graphic novels or other illustrations — he says it isn’t hard for him to find inspiration.
Just last month, he released “Safe Passage,” with award-winning storyteller G. Neri, which can be purchased online through Barnes and Noble or locally at The Writer’s Block.
Brame was the Anchorage Museum’s virtual artist-in-residence in 2022, and since last November, has had his work featured in “Lines of Sight: Comic Art and Storytelling in Alaska,” — an exhibition featuring art installations, interactives, video and comic universes alongside fellow creators Dimi Macheras, and Nathan Shafer.
Brame will be at the Museum Friday, May 3, from 6-8 p.m. to speak on collaborative storytelling. “Lines of Sight” is in the west wing on the first floor of the Museum, and will be available to view until Oct. 6.
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.