Utilizing standup under the guise of performance, this work is a comedy routine that consists of crowd work. Shot in first person perspective, I turn the focus around on the audience. During this set, audience contribution and participation is valued over myself as the performer. Rooted in pedagogy to discuss racial inequity, the driving inquiry of the bit is “If there were a movie about slavery, but it had an all white cast, would you go see that movie.”

To exist in the world as a Black person is difficult. To exist in the world as a Black person dealing with global collective trauma and personal loss is excruciating. I am in search of a place that provides a sense of obscurity and safety. Of all places, I found it in the woods. I employ drone footage of me traversing the land by foot. While acting as a surveillance tool, the drone searches for me, as I search for “the Place” where I can emotionally and physically rest.

As an avid collector of nostalgic audio and video I meticulously go through my voicemails to recreate moments/interactions with my mother and father. From my collection I create an audio collage of archival voicemails from my parents surrounding personal and mundane conversations, while utilizing elements of repetition.

When I found out my dad died, I made a visceral laugh that I couldn’t hold in. Because of this I was told I had no etiquette for grieving. Years later and I'm still trying to figure out the etiquette of grief. In an exploration of this concept, I create a video loop of a visual and audio abstraction that utilizes pop culture to process the etiquette of “how I should grieve”.

Utilizing laughter as a form of communication, a tool of emotional labor and as a mask, I engage with a peer in tough conversations relating to the effects of systematic oppression.