African American Horror Story Audio
(Watching this works best if you use two devices. Listen to the audio through headphones on one device, and watch the video on another, with the sound also on. Make sure the time is as synced up as possible.)
I chose to use the song Strange Fruit because when I am walking alone in town at night I think about the history of lynchings in America and the “surprise factor” of it all. The worst images run through my head and I see every unfamiliar entity as something that has the potential to harm me. Though Iowa did not appear to have as many lynchings as other states, living in a majority conservative area, it’s hard not to think about it. I haven’t had an awful experience here where I felt that my safety was compromised, but this anxiety still haunts me.
In my video I explore space and place. In a place that is supposedly meant to be for me because I am a student (Grinnell College and the town of Grinnell), I never really feel apart of it. There is no space for my space. I can take up as much space as I would like, but in the end this will never be my place and I will never belong.
Fear is the emotion behind this video. Fear of the unknown, fear of the known, suspense-inducing fear. Something that everyone feels and knows. When I think of fear I think of walking alone at night in Grinnell. I think of being taken by surprise and never being able to connect with my old life again. I think of the end of my life and the never ending-ness of time. There’s this spooky eerie feeling that I am unable to shake when I walk through Grinnell at night. Each step I take is a step closer to my last. The end.
Map of White Supremacy mob violence. (2016). Retrieved November 21, 2018, from http://www.monroeworktoday.org/explore/
Simone, Nina. “Strange Fruit.” Pastel Blues, 1965.
