Blue Noted
We got Austin, USA-based poet and performance artist Sharon Bridgforth to tell us about approaching her work as a "spiritual practice" in our January Texas artist feature. What ended up on the cutting room floor, however, were the details of her upcoming film Love Conjure/Blues now in preproduction.
Based on Sharon's book of the same name, published by Redbone Press, Love Conjure/Blues will inhabit the same territories of jazz aesthetic and "polyrhythmic storytelling." We're told that the film will combine text with a cappella vocal soundscapes, still images, "by any means necessary" filmmaking, and earth-based sculpting with sacred objects. We're reminded of both the multimedia concatenations of Carrie Mae Weems and also the guerilla film stylings of Melvin Van Peebles.
The film brings together the talents of filmmaker Krissy Mahan (she of the Dykeumentary), as well as Joni L. Jones, Florinda Bryant, Laurie Carlos, Daniel Alexander Jones and others. We're particularly interested to hear that Sonja Perryman, whose contributions to the hypnotic 2003 "Amniotic/flow" we still recall, is also involved. The project will exist as both a film and a digital environment in which Sharon will perform live while on tour.
Love Conjure/Blues is being supported by a number of foundations and organizations and will be presented by the Center for African and African American Studies, U.T. Austin.