Nzingha Kendall is a post-doctoral fellow at the Carter G. Woodson Institute at the University of Virginia. She’s working on a research project that analyzes how experimental filmmaking allow for moments and spaces for liberation in a world that constrains black women’s expression and their ability to live. Titled “Imperfect Independence: Black Women & Experimental Filmmaking,” this project looks at black women across the diaspora, from the late 20th century to the present, who use experimental techniques and practices. She argues that experimental filmmaking practices offer black women fleeting, yet profound sources of freedom; these moments of freedom constitute instances of imperfect independence.
Graduate Spotlight
Nzingha Kendall, and her collaborator Madeleine Hunt-Erlich, have been selected as inaugural fellows for the Undo Fellowship, sponsored by the UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art. Kendall and Hunt-Erlich join a cohort of three other artist/writer pairs in this initiative to expand radical filmmaking practices and research new languages of documentary cinema. During the fellowship they will explore alternative ways of telling stories by and about black people by delving into fragmented archives.