Frame Rate: Dami Spain curated by Jheanelle Brown

Photos by Bradley Hale.

Q&A between Dami Spain and curator Jheanelle Brown
July 2022

LAND (Los Angeles Nomadic Division) presents Frame Rate: Dami Spain curated by Jheanelle Brown, featuring a multi-channel video installation and durational performance. Act 001 follows the video’s protagonist through desolate and unfamiliar places in search of understanding herself and her place in the world. The immersive experience takes attendees through our heroine’s experience of self-reflection in a new, unknown world. She contends with the following questions: Where is she? How did she get there? Is there a greater reason for her existence? Can she be liberated and have autonomy in this new world? Act 001 employs time travel, multi-dimensionality, and circular time theory to imagine new possibilities of living on this plane.⁠

JUMP I
Director, Producer, Editor: Dami Spain
Starring: Dami Spain
Cinematographer  and Drone Operator: Vasilios Papitios
Music: Hello by Dami Spain, Finale by Dami Spain & Masao

JUMP II
Director, Producer, Editor: Dami Spain
Starring: Dami Spain
Camera Operator: La Femme Bear
Music: Away (Bapari Remix) by Dami Spain & Veronica Jane

JUMP III
Director, Producer, Editor: Dami Spain
Starring: Dami Spain
Cinematographers: Bby Shamu, Dami Spain, Vasilios Papitios
Music: Reasons by Dami Spain & Bapari

JUMP III was made possible with support from The Transgender Cultural District

BLUE LOOP
Director, Producer, Editor: Dami Spain
Starring: Dami Spain
Cinematographer: Bby Shamu
Music: Float by Dami Spain

This program was made possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs.⁠

@culture_la

About the Artist

Dami Spain is a performance artist, musician, and filmmaker born and raised in California. She harnesses afro-future themes of time travel, multi-dimensionality, and circular time theory to imagine new possibilities for this physical plane. Her education in music, dance, and acting started in high school and continued through college until her career as a performing artist was sparked in San Francisco. In the past 5 years she has performed at A.C.T. The Strand, REDCAT, The Broad Museum, CounterPulse and more. She has shown work across the US and internationally performing in Montreal, Canada and Mexico City, Mexico. In 2020, she released her debut solo music project titled “Dawning”.

@damispain

About the Curator

Jheanelle Brown is a film curator/programmer, educator, and writer based in Los Angeles whose curatorial practice creates frameworks to explore the boundlessness of Black life in experimental and non-fiction film and video. She is interested in the space between fugitivity and futurity and elevating an ethic of care, with an emphasis on Caribbean film/video and the L.A. Rebellion. Jheanelle is a programmer for Los Angeles Filmforum and on faculty at California Institute of the Arts and Otis College of Art & Design. Her exhibitions and programs have been presented at Art + Practice, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the National Museum for African American History and Culture, 18th Street Arts Center, Project Row Houses, and articule gallery, amongst others. At this moment, she is dreaming about cosmic marronage whilst trying to remember her terrestrial obligations.⁠

@jheaneeeeelle

About Arts at Blue Roof

ARTS AT BLUE ROOF is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to providing arts programming and resources to our South Los Angeles and the Greater Los Angeles community through our artist residency, “A Room of One’s Own,” which provides FREE studio space and professional mentorship for women artists. We are an LGBTQIA + inclusive community.

@artsatblueroof

Frame Rate is LAND’s screening series, presenting film, video, and moving image works in site-specific contexts. Reflecting the diverse ways contemporary artists engage with visual culture, Frame Rate allows audiences intimate access to artists’ works and creative process. Unlike conventional formats, Frame Rate invites artists to propose and present new work, works-in-progress or ideas that comprise the multifaceted influences informing their creative practice.

LAND’s 2022 exhibitions are made possible with lead support from the Offield Family Foundation and the Jerry and Terri Kohl Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Fran and Ray Stark Foundation, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture, the LA Arts Recovery Fund, and LAND’s Nomadic Council. Special thanks to Artist Sponsors Karen Hillenburg, Brenda Potter, Abby Pucker, Jay and Deanie Stein Foundation Trust, and the Poncher Family Foundation.

LAND is a member-supported organization. Support LAND’s free, public programming by becoming a member today.