Burning Angel Dust

As an artist one of my objectives in the cinematic discourse is to develop the womanist aesthetic: ethnic, social justice oriented, multi-dimensional and erotic . This aesthetic or more accurately, this language will serve as a “homeplace” for women of the African Diaspora. The concept of homeplace, historically, comes from the magic Black women performed by transforming domestic households into safe havens from slave shacks in the United States to the Shantytowns in South Africa. These physical structures became places of care and nurturance in the face of the brutal reality of racial and sexual oppression; my work in film seeks to create and do the same.

Poet/activist Audre Lourde wrote, “I am a black woman poet doing her work come to ask you are you doing yours.” Lourde knew that art should be both aesthetically pleasing and a vehicle for social change. To the question poised by Lourde I answer, “yes, I am doing my work.” My personal history, coupled with the longer legacy of being born from enslaved people, has constructed the fabric in which my work as a filmmaker will exist as entertainment and social work. These two components are often thought of as mutually exclusive; however, in narrative and documentary film both can form a harmonious marriage. In this respect, I believe film should change consciousness, educate as well as entertain, and motivate its viewers for social action –- all of which can be achieved without compromise of artistic integrity.