God Gave Her Children is a draft of a larger idea exploring how action on the part of the viewer may activate their own memories of Blackness and joy. I was inspired by a visit to the Ma Rainey House in Columbus, GA. Ma Rainey is one of the first American Blues singers, her Queer, colorful life was not well documented. Her home which has since been turned into a museum, held little information about her life and legacy, consequently because of her lifestyle. Knowing that her house was set for demolition years prior, I thought about the preservation of Black stories. While storytelling is central to all human experiences, stories seem to drive survival in the wake of global anti-blackness and homophobia. This is the space of my inquiry. Thus, movement, music, spirituality, and the spoken word—the foundations of Black storytelling— have been imperative for this project. To explore the relationship between performance and visual mediums, I choose a pop-up book and film mash-up.
