liquid blackness Donors Visual Dossier

Yanique Norman, Fatherlessness 1 (2010), photographed by Mike Jensen, courtesy of the artist

www.liquidblackness.com
Liquid Blackness Limited

liquid blackness is a public-facing research group that organizes encounters in the contemporary black arts for creatives, scholars, and the general public. Its mission is to mentor the next generation of scholars and creatives committed to the power of black artmaking.

Bradford Young, Jenn Nkiru, Shawn Peters, Elissa Blount Moorhead, Stefani Saintonge, and Kya Lou
(with Michelle Prettyman as moderator) at Music Video as Black Art: Claiming the B-Side (2023).

Promotional Video for Music Video as Black Art: Claiming the B-Side (2023). Directed by Joshua Cleveland.

Founded at Georgia State University in 2013 by Dr. Alessandra Raengo, for 13 years liquid blackness has offered public events that provide young Atlanta artists first-hand encounters with award-winning and globally celebrated Black filmmakers, such as Arthur Jafa, Kahlil Joseph, Bradford Young, Jenn Nkiru, Elissa Blount Moorhead, and Shawn Peters.

A liquid blackness guiding principle is collecting, preserving, and sharing the rich history of the black arts by providing spaces for communities to gather and celebrate artists that are shaping our understanding of the past, present, and future of black expression. Through free and public artist events, we bring the boldest contemporary and historical figures in black filmmaking to Atlanta’s diverse arts community so that they can encounter and inspire local creatives. With our open-access archives of events, scholarship, and educational materials, we strive to support and sustain the global study of black artmaking.  

In 2025, these efforts were awarded a $750,000 three-year Mellon Foundation Grant to assist in further developing our “Encounters in the Black Arts.” Since then, the liquid blackness project has moved beyond the university context to expand our engagement with Atlanta’s arts communities and to practice our mentorship beyond academia.

Wide accessibility is key to our mentoring mission.

Videos of these “Encounters in the Black Arts” are archived on the liquid blackness website (also preserved at the Library of Congress) alongside educational and research materials, to provide a record for other artists, scholars, and film lovers, the unfolding history of contemporary Black filmmaking.

Black Arts Programming and Accessibility

Black Ontology and the Love of Blackness, in Conversation with Arthur Jafa

Arthur Jafa, Director, Cinematographer, Visual Artist

The White Album (2018), Venice Biennale, Golden Lion Award 2019

Love is the Message, The Message is Death (2016)

Daughters of the Dust (Julie Dash, 1991)

See current retrospective at The New Museum (NYC)

Bradford Young and the Visual Art of Black Care

Bradford Young, Cinematographer, Director

When They See Us (Ava DuVernay, 2019), Primetime Emmy Awards Nomination, Outstanding Cinematography

Arrival (Denis Villenueve, 2016), Academy Award Nomination for Best Cinematography

Selma (Ava DuVernay, 2014)

Holding Blackness in Suspension: The Films of Kahlil Joseph

Kahlil Joseph, Director

BLKNWS: Terms and Conditions (2019), Viennale FIPRESCI Award

Beyonce’s Lemonade (2016), Primetime Emmy Award Nomination, Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special; Grammy Award Nomination, Best Music Film

Jenn Nkiru’s Panafrican Imagination: Black Studies as Aesthetic Practice

Jenn Nkiru, Director

Beyonce’s “Brown Skin Girl” (2021), Grammy Award, Best Music Video

“Black to Techno” (2019), Jarman Award 2020

Beyonce’s, “Apeshit” (2018), Grammy Award Nomination, Best Music Video

Rebirth is Necessary (2017), Aesthetica Art Prize

All these resources have been used across the US, Europe, and the Global South, in classrooms and community settings, as well as scholarly research.

Simultaneously, our Duke University Press journal’s award-winning scholarship continues the conversation in academic settings.

Mentorship

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Mentorship of younger generations of artists and scholars is vital to sustaining and growing the future of the black arts. Our public programming and smaller, private masterclasses have given young creatives the opportunity to learn directly from artists. Our educational outreach programming with teach-ins, reading groups, screening series, and one-on-one art and writing consultations provides direct mentorship to young artists and scholars.

Testimonials from past events describe being touched by the generosity of these artists’ sharing of what inspires and drives their art practice in both the creative industries and the artworld, and how these hands-on “Encounters” have provided vital inspiration for their own artmaking.

“You have supported an entire cadre of black artists and institutions should know that” - Elissa Blount Moorhead

“I want to personally thank Dr. Raengo for having such an empowering panel of artists & filmmakers that have shaped so much of black cinema and art. Studying their work inspired so much of my craft and their influence made me privy to a world beyond the confines of mainstream cinema and art. To be in their presence and hear about their processes and ideologies was so surreal for me.” - Kia Pooler

“I just want to thank you and congratulate you on the body of work, and we appreciate it. […] I know my work will live because of you” - Shawn Peters

“I appreciate your efforts to showcase black artists, and I would love to be a part of what you have going on. I would love to help in some way if you are accepting interns or volunteers on projects. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to participate or help. I am very interested in meeting you and being a part of your team.” - Shanti Garrison


“liquid blackness is a space young artists look forward to coming to because of its unprecedented engagement with our work” - Kya Lou

“Over two intimate sessions, the liquid blackness team offered their time to evaluate, discuss, and advise my group on ways to make the film even stronger since its creation. Their dedication to my group’s work made all the difference in curating a beautiful and intentional sonic-visual performance at Northwestern University’s Block Museum just a few months later." - Calvin Bell

“I got the rare pleasure to be in conversation with people whose work I not only admire but have taught many times. Thank you @liquidblackness”- Carlus “Max” Henderson

COMMUNITY PARTNERS

  • Africa Atlanta, 2014

  • AMPLIFY: media arts for collective strength

  • Arnika Dawkins Gallery

  • Atlanta Contemporary Art Center

  • Atlanta Film Society

  • ATLarge Music Film Festival

  • Auburn Avenue Research Library

  • Beautiful Ventures

  • BookLogix

  • Center for Civil and Human Rights

  • Community Books in Stone Mountain, Georgia

  • Contraband Cinema

  • Film Love

  • Gallery 72

  • Gathering Wild Dance Company

  • King & Spalding Law Firm

  • Mammal Gallery

  • Oakhurst Market

  • People Store

  • Sound Table

  • South Bend Commons

  • T.Lang Dance

  • The Low Museum of Contemporary Culture

  • Video Consortium

  • WonderRoot Community Arts Center

INSTITUTIONAL PARTNERS/CO-SPONSORS:

  • Department of Film and Media, Emory University

  • Georgia Institute of Technology

    • Ivan College of Liberal Arts

    • School of Literature, Media, Communication

  • Georgia State University

    • Center for Hellenic Studies

    • Center for Human Rights and Democracy

    • College of the Arts

    • Creative Media Industries Institute

    • Department of Africana Studies

    • Honors College

    • School of Film, Media & Theatre

    • School of Music

    • Welch School of Art and Design

    • Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies

  • Guardians of Heritage National Youth United Civic Leadership Collaborative

  • National Council on Public History

  • Spelman College

    • Department of Art and Visual Culture

    • Digital Moving Image Salon

  • Summer Institute of Audiovisual Criticism, Goethe University, Frankfurt

  • UCLA Film & Video Archive

  • University of Toronto

    • Black Research Network

    • Cinema Studies Institute

With your additional support, we can continue to strengthen our mentoring mission and grow the vital role that Atlanta plays in developing the future of black artmaking.

If you wish to view our 2025-26 Annual Report, click here.

If you wish to become a sustaining donor, visit our donation page.

If you wish to discuss more specific programming or longer-term donor support, please contact us at couch.coreya@gmail.com.