Examining Kahlil Joseph’s visual impact
The ‘Lemonade’ visual collaborator brings his films and insight to GSU
Kahlil Joseph’s lush and visually arresting films stand out for their beauty and emotional honesty. Joseph is, perhaps, best known for his work on the film accompaniment to “Lemonade,” but he has honed his craft since releasing his first video for Shabazz Palaces “Belhaven Meridian” in 2010.
On Thurs., Oct. 6, the Georgia State University research group Liquid Blackness hosts a screening of Joseph’s work followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker, led by film department professor Lauren Cramer. On Fri., Oct. 7, Liquid Blackness hosts a symposium that, as the group explains on its website, “offer an opportunity to consider the moving image, public space, and race at the intersection of hip-hop, blackness, cinema, collectivity, and black spaces.”
To prep you for the symposium, the following is a visual primer featuring five videos from the artistic collective Joseph directs, What Matters Most. Joseph refers to the films as “a new kind of music film and not just … film about music.”
The settings oscillate from the LA’s urban landscapes for “Belhaven Meridian,” an all black rodeo in Grayson, Okla., for “Wildcat,” and a bucolic nature setting for “Saturn Returns.” According to Liquid Blackness, the films are connected “through their surreal and dreamlike organization, rich textures and moody cinematography, and an unwavering commitment to exploring the details of black lives on screen.”
Those textures showcase the aesthetic cultivated by What Matters Most and their influences felt by the films of Terrence Malick (one of Joseph’s mentors) and the art collective LA Rebellion.
FKA Twigs: “Video Girl”
Shabazz Palaces: “Belhaven Meridan”
Wildcat
Flying Lotus: “Until the Quiet Comes”
Grandchildren: “Saturn Returns”
Thurs., Oct. 6. 7 p.m. Screening of selected works by Kahlil Joseph, followed by a Q&A. Kopleff Recital Hall. 10 Peachtree Center Ave. N.E. Fri., Oct. 7. 2 p.m. Symposium: “Holding Blackness in Suspension: The Films of Kahlil Joseph.” Creative Media Industries Institute. 25 Park Place, 2nd floor.