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Still from Barbara McCullough’s Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space, courtesy of Third World Newsreel
Join us for a post-screening discussion with filmmaker Barbara McCullough, in person.
“Water Ritual is a beginning point in my quest to create cathartic experiences for myself and my community...” —Barbara McCullough
Barbara McCullough’s Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification explores the possibilities of transformation through the cleansing of environment and self. Influenced by a friend’s mental health crisis and created in collaboration with performer Yolanda Vidato, it was filmed in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles which was razed to construct Interstate 105 but was then left abandoned. A young woman within this desolate landscape performs various private rituals of renewal. (1979, 16mm, 4 minutes)
Followed by Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space, an investigation into the use of ritual by artists practicing across a variety of media. Here “ritual” is defined as the creation and utilization of objects, words, or tones used in a repetitive or habitual way to generate a spiritually cathartic experience. Featuring artists David Hammons, Betye Saar, Houston and Kinshasha Conwill, N'Senga Nengudi, K. Curtis Lyle, Ojenke, Kamaau Da'oud, Kenneth Severin, and Freedom in Expression. (1980, 35mm, 60 minutes)
About the artist
A native of New Orleans, Barbara McCullough has lived most of her life in southern California. Her initial interest was in photography, but the moving image, the immediacy of video, and textures captured on film set her on a path of exploration. McCullough’s work progressed to examining artists' creative process but she always maintained a fascination with experimental film and video. She sees herself as a part of the continuum of African American storytellers whose goal is to preserve knowledge by capturing the essence of its life, spirit, and magic. “The work and heritage of the African American artist/cultural worker provides a link to past achievements often overlooked but necessary to provide links for future generations to keep the music and visual poetry alive,” she said.
McCollough’s works include Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification, Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflection on Ritual Space, Fragments, The World Saxophone Quartet, and Horace Tapscott Musical Griot. Her film Water Ritual #1 was awarded an Avant Garde Masters Grant by the National Film Preservation Foundation in 2010. She is associated with UCLA filmmakers known as the LA Rebellion and her work has been shown in galleries, museums, and film festivals around the world.
Programmed in conjunction with the exhibition Photography and the Black Arts Movement: 1955-1985, open from September 21, 2025 to January 11, 2026.
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