ABOUT THE ARTIST
Barbara McCullough is a filmmaker who emerged from the UCLA Los Angeles Rebellion experience to create works emblematic of the reality of African American life, seen beyond the usual stereotypical view. Her UCLA contemporaries who also worked on Horace Tapscott: Musical Griot include Charles Burnett, Billy Woodberry, and Julie Dash, to name a few, along with Johnny Simmons and Al Santana. Other projects include – Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space, a 58-minute video that her mentor Shirley Clarke proclaimed, “the title wouldn’t fit the marque,” Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite Of Purification, and World Saxophone Quartet and Fragments. Her works strive to extract the essence of the seemingly mundane to expose its magic and poetry. Horace is another part of that examination. Previously, McCullough worked in the visual effects industry for over 20 years, and from 2010 until 2016, she was chair of the visual effects department at Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD).
liquid blackness in conversation with Barbara McCullough
SELECTED WORKS
Visual effects
The Nutty Professor (1996), dir. Tom Shadyac
Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), dir. Steve Oedekerk
Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles (1994), dir. Neil Jordan
Color of Night (1994), dir. Richard Rush
Heart and Souls (1993)
Toys (1992), dir. Barry Levinson
Made in Heaven (1987), dir. Alan Rudolph
Director
Horace Tapscott: Musical Griot (2017)
Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space (1981)
World Saxophone Quartet (1980)
Fragments (1980)
Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification (1979)
Chephren-Khafra: Two Years of a Dynasty (1977)
Production Manager
The Prince of Egypt (1998), directors Brenda Chapman, Steve Hickner, & Simon Wells
Freaked (1993), directors Tom Stern and Alex Winter
Producer
Horace Tapscott: Musical Griot (2017)
Sound Assistant
A Different Image (1982)
SELECTED SCREENINGS
Horace Tapscott: A Musical Griot Screening at MOCA
SELECTED REVIEWS
Crombie, Zoe. “The Revolutionary Cinema of the Female LA Rebellion Directors.” The Digital Fix, December 31, 2020. https://www.thedigitalfix.com/film/feature/the-revolutionary-cinema-of-the-female-la-rebellion-directors/.
Duersten, Matthew. “A Member of L.A.’s Most Famous Black Film Movement Returns with a Doc About Jazz Legend Horace Tapscott.” LA Weekly, February 2, 2017. https://www.laweekly.com/a-member-of-l-a-s-most-famous-black-film-movement-returns-with-a-doc-about-jazz-legend-horace-tapscott/.
SELECTED INTERVIEWS
Getty Research Institute. “Maren Hassinger, Ulysses Jenkins, Barbara McCollough, et. Al. Oral History.” YouTube, May 9, 2016.
