Film Maker’s Note:
Often our identity is imposed onto us. We are socialized to be perceived in a lens that may not be the way we choose to be seen or treated. Some of us may be wayward in finding our footing in the soil that we walk across, but it is important to define yourself for who you want to be and not what others impose onto you.
I went into this project with a non-biased lens that was open to producing art for art’s sake. Often I am seeking to tell a racialized narrative, but for this shoot I wanted us to exist outside of our race. This proved to be only a wish. Upon shooting in SoHo, an employee of a coffee shop off of Grand Street was bothered by our presence; four individuals of color. However, she didn’t see us as individuals, she saw us as a collective of what could be harmful, so much so that she threatened to call the police on us (refer to the opening of the film).
Karon contacted me to produce a "Behind the Scenes" film of the shoot. I contemplated incorporating this element, because again, I did not want to make the project exclusively about radicalized dynamics. After some thought I decided, this encounter is part of the BTS, just as our location scouting, outfit curation and image production. For this reason, I decided the narrative should be documented, all the while being juxtaposed with the actual work that was being curated with Hamadi, Chris, and myself - Shirley.
A tattoo artist by the name go Kgopotso from South Africa said to me, “Black people are the closest thing to God.” A South African spiritual leader by the name of Sibo said, “It is because of the likeness [to] we can create.” Despite the micro-agressions and the animosity that was directed towards us, we kept our peace and proceeded to create.
Written, filmed and edited by: Shirley Reynozo
Photographer: Hamadi
Stylist: Chris
Model: Karon
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