Finding Soft Ground
Finding Soft Ground follows a Black woman artist as she navigates the emotional complexities of preparing for her first large-scale solo exhibition in Los Angeles. Amid the pressures of installation and self-doubt, she faces a profound family loss. Rooted in Black feminism, this short documentary explores themes of love, art-making, and the pursuit of softness and safety—for herself and her community—during a transformative moment in her life and career.
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Tatyana Lynn FazlalizadehDirector
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Tatyana Lynn FazlalizadehProducer
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Tatyana Lynn FazlalizadehKey Cast
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Project Type:Documentary, Short
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Runtime:22 minutes 49 seconds
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Country of Origin:United States, United States
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Country of Filming:United States, United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
Tatyana Fazlalizadeh (she/her) is a Brooklyn based multidisciplinary artist working primarily in painting, public art, and moving image installation. Tatyana, whose social practice is rooted in Black feminist praxis, considers image-making as a site of protest, contestation, affirmation and possibility. Her work centers community engagement and the public sphere, making site-specific work that considers how people, particularly women, Black folks and queer folks, experience race and gender within their surrounding physical environments. She is the creator of Stop Telling Women to Smile, an international street art series that tackles gender-based street harassment. The project has been ongoing for over 10 years and in 2020 Tatyana released the book, Stop Telling Women to Smile: Stories of Street Harassment and How We're Taking Back Our Power.
Tatyana has lectured about her work and social practice methodology at institutions such as The Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Museum, as well as several schools including Brown, Pratt, Stanford, and The New School. Fazlalizadeh has been profiled by the New York Times, NPR, the New Yorker, and Time Magazine. Group exhibitions include the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Brooklyn Museum. She is a Forbes Under 30 lister, a University of Michigan Mellon Foundation Fellow, and in 2018 she became the inaugural Public Artist in Residence for the New York City Commission on Human Rights.