AVA DuVERNAY: HOW THE DEPICTION OF BLACK LIVES MATTERS

Feeling Rebloggy

"As the United States navigates a political moment defined by the close of the Obama era and the rise of #BlackLivesMatter activism, in May 2016 Aperture magazine will release “Vision & Justice,” a special issue guest edited by Sarah Lewis, the distinguished author and art historian, addressing the role of photography in the African American experience."

As a preview, a conversation between two black film makers:



AVA DuVERNAY
BRADFORD YOUNG 

Young: But on many levels, I’m so curious to hear from you, Miss Ava DuVernay, a growing artist in the film context. Your life’s calling is about the transformative, revolutionary power of cinema. You’ve taken on a mandate to make film that truly communicates the revolutionary potential of human beings. I’d be curious to hear why you think the image is important in our evolutionary and revolutionary process as black people in the world and within the American context. What makes you feel like image is such a significant element in our development?

DuVernay: ... The images that we consume and that we take in, can nourish us, and they can malnourish us. They become a part of our DNA in some way. They become a part of our mind, our memory.

Young: Right.

DuVernay: It’s in our internal camera. The image. This idea of the image is so much more dense than even using it in a film context. It’s an intimacy inside your own memory, inside your own mind.

We see the world and each other in pictures. That’s why I think film is so emotional. It’s re-creating what’s already embedded in our internal process. It’s an artificial rendering of what’s already going on inside [your head, your soul]. I think that, for whatever reason, that is why I’ve always been drawn to it...

~Aperture

Read More:

http://aperture.org/blog/aperture-magazine-blog/black-lives-silver-screen-ava-duvernay-bradford-young-conversation/