Blackness, Performance, Freedom
Upon returning to my home in Ashburn, Virginia for this past break, I decided to engage in the small space exercise for my journal entry. In the basement of my home there’s a small room with no furniture where my father stores old family photos, heirlooms, and other miscellaneous books. I decided on this space…
Smoke filled lungs empty chronic symphonies, I relish in the taste of the current trapping my skin, match the jaded expression of the pianist played one gig too high. Left foot fused to the floor with a concoction of warm liquor, sweat, and melted keys. And sweet deceit fills our ears. Knees start to buckle,…
Beyoncé’s 2016 “Formation” music video includes a montage of scenes invoking both modern and historical settings. One image I’d like to pay particular attention to and which I discussed in an earlier journal entry is the parlor scene in which Beyoncé and several other women dance in the hallway of a 19th century southern home wearing…
The mediums and genres of both the “This Is America” music video and the performance of it in Guava Island present contexts which allow us as viewers to understand them differently. The format of the music video is a 4 minute standalone YouTube video, while the performance of the song in Guava Island lies in the middle of a…