A program of four shorts made by artists influenced by and with a strong connection to the spirit and times of the Black Arts Movement, followed by a screening of Speaking in Tongues by Doug Harris.

Program

Julie Dash’s Four Women eruditely pairs the title by Nina Simone with film of dancer Linda Martina Young as she embodies characters from the song, using gesture and movement to trace gender stereotypes and identities (Julie Dash, 1975, 8 minutes);

Water Ritual 1: An Urban Rite of Purification, an excerpt of which is installed in the exhibition, was made in collaboration with performer Yolanda Vidato and examines Black women’s ongoing struggle for spiritual and psychological space through improvisational, symbolic acts (Barbara McCullough, 1979, 6 minutes);

Air Propo, video documentation of a performance by Senga Nengudi and Lawrence D. “Butch” Morris at Just Above Midtown in 1981, thanks to a generous loan by the Museum of Modern Art

The First World Festival of Negro Arts the official documentary of the festival held in Dakar, Senegal, in 1966. Over 2,000 writers, artists, and performers from Africa and the African Diaspora participated in the event. The film features Duke Ellington, Langston Hughes, Alvin Ailey, Aimé Césaire, Leopold Senghor, and many other artists, performers, and dignitaries from 30 countries. (William Greaves, 1966, 40 minutes).

Speaking in Tongues is a 1982 avant-garde jazz film by Doug Harris. Funded by German Public Television and broadcast throughout Europe when it was first released, the now rarely seen work features saxophonist David Murray, percussionist Milford Graves, and poet-playwright and novelist Amiri Baraka. It serves as a tribute to Albert Ayler, a tenor saxophonist and leader in the free-style jazz movement before his mysterious death in 1970. (Doug Harris, 1982, analogue video to digital, 75 minutes)

Programmed in conjunction with the exhibition Photography and the Black Arts Movement: 1955-1985, open from September 21, 2025 to January 11, 2026.

With thanks to independent curator, writer, lecturer, and translator Greg De Cuir Jr.