Behind Still, Release and liberation:

BLACK WOMEN CREATING TOGETHER

During the production of this project, the writers and directors, all Black identified women, reflected on how we were reclaiming lost parts of ourselves and our peoples, through this project and its manifestations. 

Bianca Mońa, creator, writer and director of the sound art installation, reminds us through her work that our African ancestors used movement, particularly dance, to bring us into meditative, trance-like state. Also, in weaving traditional Indigenous chanting from the Americas, she acknowledges our intertwined destinies in the Americas, and hopes to continue to inspire a growing solidarity.

Amanda Barnes, visual creator of Still, Release and Liberation’s accompanying experimental film, shares her design process: “The visual pieces are a conversation with what Bianca created. They layer one another through imagery, effects, and coloring; all forces of the senses coming together. The visuals are a kaleidoscope of sensory journeys that are pungent and engage viewers to discover. As you watch and listen, there is something new, a different angle, a transformation of a normal day experience.”

Through this Black women collaboration for Sunlight Around the Corner, we invite moments of wholeness through the embodied practices of breathing, speaking, dancing, singing, drumming, walking, harvesting and so on. The experience calls on us all to metabolize harmful energies out of our bodies - disappointment, hurt, anger and pain and convert it to clarity, solidarity, joy and healing.