Oryza: Healing Ground

This experimental animated documentary interrogates the colonial legacies embedded in archives through the lens of Black land stewards. Combining live-action footage, archival material, and animation, Oryza: Healing Ground reimagines archives as dynamic, living systems. A custom-built Artificial Intelligence system centered on Black histories, creates evolving digital motifs on Afrocentric perspectives, challenging the exclusion of Black voices from AI and algorithmic technologies.

Starting with the West African cultivation of rice, the knowledge of which was carried and disseminated by enslaved farmers, the film follows the trail of Black history to unearth a variety of nearly forgotten stories. These motifs, a visual metaphor for time travel, weave throughout the film, connecting past, present, and future, and highlighting the enduring relationship between Black communities and the land. Through this innovative blending of technology and documentary filmmaking, Oryza: Healing Ground seeks to deconstruct static historical narratives, preserving and amplifying the stories of Black farmers in new and groundbreaking ways.