Over the past few years, I’ve been archiving the stories of my grandmothers for an oral history project called Matriarch. They are 88 and 90 years old. They are both brilliant and vibrant and complicated, and I feel so blessed to still have them with me to learn from—especially at an age where I can really honor and understand this gift.
My Vovó Damiana has had a health issue and I want to go to Brazil as soon as I can to spend time with her, be with her stories, and continue archiving her life memories. I'm feeling deeply aware of how precarious and precious life is, and it feels important for me to move swiftly given the uncertainty.
Though it wasn’t a part of the plan, I am turning my attention to Matriarch and aim to travel with my camera and audio equipment across the globe to capture some precious moments with my Vovó.
I am raising $3400 to complete these interviews in Brazil. Quite frankly, I don’t have the time to wait for grant funding, so I'm turning to my community for support. The costs of this next phase of the project will be $1400 for airfare, $1000 for Equipment, $500 for food and ground transport, and $500 for Insurance.
Please consider making a donation via my personal CashApp, or Venmo, or by purchasing art through my website.
Charitable contributions can also be made for this project through non-profit CreoChangemakers (FEIN# 47-2520723) via check, Zelle (info@creochangemakers.com), or Stripe. Please indicate that the funds are for Matriarch Film Project.
Thank you for your attention support!
Here's a short summary about the project:
Matriarch is a multi-diasporic film inquiry into the power, wisdom, and complexities of our grandmothers. The film asks: What can we learn from sitting with, studying, and understanding the lives of our matriarchs?
Two years ago, I began casually interviewing my Grandmother Bruria, born in Jerusalem in 1932, and my Vovó Damiana born in Salvador Bahia in 1934. While there are stark differences in their realities and life stories, putting them together revealed new understandings about the two diasporas that are my lineage.
My journey into the story of my grandmothers comes from an understanding that there is both beauty and pain there. I feel that there is something to be learned from exploring, honoring, and holding that duality.
In this project, I will activate my visual arts foundations for animation, my musical background for sonic narrative, and my cinematic experience for storytelling. Folklore research and spiritual studies draw connections across cultures. My interviews are rooted in honor and respect for elder wisdom and the divine feminine, and deep trust in ancestral guidance. I am humbled to craft a story that is nuanced in its depiction of the divine and complicated women who created me.
Matriarch is an intersectional story at its root. My family's multi-diasporic stories naturally reveal and confront ageism, patriarchy, classism, immigration, intuition, religion, nationalism, identity, and politics. My prayer for this work is that their wisdom (challenges/successes and all) might help us better navigate our present circumstances.
I am honored to be a continuation of their legacies and to weave their stories into my own. I'm looking forward to experiencing my own unfolding throughout this journey, and to sharing it with all of you along the way.
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