Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflections on Ritual Space

Nine LA-based african-american artists contributed to this experimental film wondering about the value of ritual in their work and life. All artists mention the influence of traditional and ritualistic tradition in their work by evoking prevalent questions within artmaking - such as assertiveness in improvisation and the rehearsal in public space - and using a wide range of media, like performance, sculpture and ecology, poetry or music.

Through the film, ritual is defined, by Betye Saar, as “not just a rite, but also what feels ‘right’” for the artist and the next generations. McCullough’s acquaintance with new film technologies and her interest in performance and Black Feminism and Post-colonialis theories are reflected on this work; styllistically, by the interviews blend with documentation and photographs, and a soundtrack by Don Cherry striving for an adequacy of criteria and language to meet black artists’ art.