Poetic + Powerful
Black being is a cinematic meditation on resilience, memory, and the sacred breath of Black womanhood, where movement becomes testimony and the body holds ancestral memory.
Emotional + human
Black Being honors the histories and spirits of Black women, rooted in pain, blooming in power, and alive with joy.
artful + reflective
Black being weaves dance, landscape, and lived history into a lyrical film honoring the endurance, tenderness, and luminous spirit of Black women across generations.
BLACK BEING
BLACK BEING
artistic vision
My work lives at the intersection of movement, memory, and the sacred interior lives of Black women. Rooted in dance and informed by years of interdisciplinary practice, I create poetic visual narratives where the body becomes archive, the landscape becomes witness, and story becomes a site of healing, resilience and truth telling. My films invite viewers to slow down, listen deeply, and experience the emotional, cultural and ancestral weight held in the body.
Black being continues my commitment to honoring Black womanhood with complexity, dignity, and expansive humanity. Drawing inspiration from the work and artistic lineage of North Carolina Poet Laureate, Jaki Shelton Green, whose language and imagination opens portals to history, spirit and survival. As a result, this film contributes to cultural preservation, communal memory, and global understanding.
trailer
Collaborators
Jaki Shelton Green, ninth Poet Laureate of North Carolinawas recognized by the 2022 Forbes Magazine 50 Over 50 Lifestyle List, 2021 Frank B. Hanes Writer in Residence at UNC Chapel Hill, 2019 Academy of American Poet Laureate Fellow, 2019 NC Humanities Council Caldwell Award, 2014 NC Literary Hall of Fame Inductee, 2009 NC Piedmont Laureate appointment, 2003 recipient of the North Carolina Award for Literature. She recently retired from teaching Documentary Poetry at the Duke University Center for Documentary Studies.
Jaki Shelton Green is the author of ten poetry publications, vinyland CD recordings. She serves as poetry editor for WALTER Magazine, and is the Poet Laureate in Residence for the North Carolina Museum of Art. Her poetry has been commissioned, performed, translated into film and paintings by visual artists, dance companies, and musicians including Flutronix, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Chicago Sinfonietta. She owns SistaWRITE, providing retreats in magical spaces across the United States, Morocco, Ireland, and France. In 2024, The Mint Museum curated a multi-media installation of her poem the Communion of White Dresses in collaboration with collagist, Monique Luck.
Michael Wall is an internationally recognized composer, performer, and educator who collaborates with dancers, choreographers, and filmmakers around the world. He composes original music, accompanies dance classes, and teaches sound design for dance and performance with Ableton Live. Michael has worked at Rutgers University, Princeton University, NYU, The Ohio State University, The Bates Dance Festival, The American Dance Festival, and The University of Utah, School of Dance. He continues to support independent artists in digital music distribution and offers a comprehensive online library of music for dance students, teachers, and choreographers. You can find all of his music at soundFORMovement.com.
Laura Casteel is a videographer, producer, and poet from Pittsboro, North Carolina. She creates documentary and marketing content for the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and previously served as Associate Producer for the PBSNC programs "Our State" and "North Carolina Weekend." She has also produced videos with local musicians for Come Hear NC, an initiative of the North Carolina Music Office. Her work has been featured in The Root, American Songwriter, and NPR Live Sessions. Her website is casteelvideo.com.
