The Periscopic Gaze

The Periscopic Gaze is a speculative documentary short exploring Black women’s inherited wisdom as told through the memories of three sisters born years apart.

If trauma lives in our DNA, why can’t resilience? The Periscopic Gaze is anchored by the personal reflections of three sisters’ memories of the spoken and unspoken wisdoms gleaned from their deceased mother. A visual rumination on memory, family lore, embodied knowledge and the history embedded in our DNA, The Periscopic Gaze uses one family’s story as the entry point to illuminate questions of inherited memory, inherited trauma, and inherited resilience. In doing so, it sheds light on Black women’s embodied knowledge, validating their reality and giving others a glimpse into Black female interiority.

Run Time: 21.31 |2024

I am a Black, lesbian filmmaker living in Baltimore who creates work exploring Black pain, wounding and death. I am also a American studies scholar investigating the impact of Black pain, wounding and death imagery on the formation of Black identity and Black art.

My work as a filmmaker and as a scholar is both personal and political. At the core of my creative and scholarly practice is a desire to tell stories that reify and validate the ways Black people show up in the world. I believe that all research should be interventional and accessible to a greater community outside of academia. The Periscopic Gaze expands my research and storytelling in new ways.