(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-making, 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 approach to black aesthetics is indebted to jamaican critic, writer, and playwright, Sylvia Wynter, who demanded black studies practitioners think long and hard about what art does in the world.