The difference between death and life, between extinction and abundance, is the difference between dirt and soil…
— The Need to Grow
Black Earth is a film series organized by Princeton’s Dorothy Krauklis ’78 Professor of Visual Arts Deana Lawson in collaboration with Visiting Professor in the Program in Visual Arts and the Department of Art and Archaeology Tina Campt. It aspires to a twofold intervention in how we envision the multiple ecologies of our planet. On the one hand, it is a meditation on Earth’s landscape through a deep dive into one of the primary materials that supports and sustains it: soil. It engages soil in its most elevated state, as nutrient rich black soil that nurtures and enriches a multitude of species. On the other hand, it hones in on Earth as a social ecology inhabited, shaped, and enlivened by Black genius.
The series includes films by Khalik Allah, Rob Herring, Kahlil Joseph, Onye Anyanwu, Bradford Young and John Akomfrah and curated conversations with the filmmakers and a selection of their collaborators.
The Black Earth series is supported through the John Sacret Young ’69 Lecture Series fund.
Tickets and Details
Held in the James Stewart Film Theater at 185 Nassau on the Princeton University campus, all screenings are free and open to the public. Free tickets are required; reserve tickets through University Ticketing. Separate tickets are required for each screening in the series.
