SOIL, SAND, BONE 2023

Dancer and choreographer, Michael J. Love's careful observation and attempts of flight with a kite are edited amidst scenes of hands moving repeatedly through water, soil, still imagery, and dye. Each visual element is inspired by the transformative invention of House and Techno music while employing the historical icon of the praise house, a simple frame structure built for worship.

4:33 minutes

This tradition of building a house for gathering began as a form of spiritual resistance by enslaved Africans before the US Civil War in 1861 and was continued by freedmen after The Emancipation in 1863. In SOIL, SAND, BONE, Black American forms of movement, music, and artistic labor illustrate a forward moving ritual that honors embodied testimonies of cultural histories.

Commissioned by

For Micheal J. Love’s premiere of “(RHY)PISTEMOLOGY! (OR, TO KNOW THROUGH THE RHYTHM)” performed at Ground Floor Theater in Austin, Texas on April 12th and 13th of 2023. 

Descendance 2021

A drone-shot video featuring interdisciplinary tap dance artist Michael J. Love and an original score by jazz musician Joseph C. Dyson Jr. Set inside an empty swimming pool at the George Washington Carver Center located in Austin, TX. 

5:26 minutes

Descendance explores ideas of lineage and generational change by transforming 
an American flag stenciled with soil.

Commissioned by 

Jacob Lawrence Gallery, Seattle WA.

Doubt & Imagination 2020

A lyrical film essay overlaid with in-camera effects to consider what data is appropriate when speculating about a cultural past that has been erased by colonialism and industrial progress. 

5:57 minutes

This film is inspired by research into the back and forth conversation between two archeologists discussing the role of doubt and imagination when developing theories on the uses of early Black and brown Indigenous pottery in South Carolina, otherwise called colonoware.

Commissioned by 

Dallas Contemporary 
30 January – 22 August 2021

The future is a constant wake. 2019

Centering soil as tools to access knowledge from the past in preparation for the future.

6:12 minutes

The opening line speculates on all that could be borne from sustained engagement with the important work of ancestors. This visual essay proposes a somatic way of forging connection with the past through touch and movement.

In Collaboration With 

Choreographer, Michael J. Love. 

Shifting Stars. 2018

6:12 minutes

NASA audio mixed with VoiceOver reading an excerpt from James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time 1963; When There is No Sun by Sun Ra Quartet featuring John Gilmore.

In Collaboration With 

Choreographer, Michael J. Love.