ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Shortest Distance Between Two People is a two-channel video and sound installation that explores a conversation about masculinity between a Black father and his Black queer masculine daughter. While our culture is filled with examinations of a father’s influence in shaping his son’s masculinity, with this project I am seeking to explore the construction of Black queer female masculinity via the father-daughter relationship, and all its related pleasures, disappointments, and longings. Informed by my background in psychology and social work, I am interested in the vulnerability and complexity present in unpacking how Black queer female masculinity is shaped by learning from our fathers, and what reflecting on this transmission of masculinity has to offer in relation to larger considerations of gender and parental inheritance.

This is both an experimental work and a hybrid documentary project in that the script is partly derived from four recorded conversations between actual Black fathers and their Black queer daughters, including my own conversation with my father. As such, the project seeks to share our experiences through a singular yet collective, and authentic yet constructed conversation.

The character of the father will be played by four different actors and the character of the daughter will be played by myself. The shoot will consist of scenes of us rehearsing and “workshopping” the scripted conversation, performing the actual script, and performing various gestures associated with masculinity.

For interested actors, more information about what’s involved in the roles is available in The Casting Call.

And if you are interested in participating, please get in touch with me.

The funding for this project has been provided by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council. I would like to gratefully acknowledge their support.