Only When It's Dark Enough Can You See the Stars

“a meditation moving through the middle passage, up from the Underground Railroad, and through to today when running, walking, or existing while black could cost you your life.”

Composition/Sound Design
Justin Hicks

Additional Music
Meshell Ndegeocello

Performance
Okwui Okpokwasili + Paul Pryce + Justin Hicks

Direction/Script/Co-producer
Charlotte Brathwaite

Inspired by and including texts by
Eric Roach, Frank B. Wilderson III + Martin Luther King Jr.

ONLY WHEN IT’S DARK ENOUGH CAN YOU SEE THE STARS was originally presented as part of the performance installation Empire State Works in Progress at the Whitney Museum of American Art as part of Calder: Hypermobility (2017) with sculptures by Abigail DeVille and Conceived and Directed by Charlotte Brathwaite.

other collaborators on the installation:

Director of Photography
Herman Jean-Noel

Artistic Facilitation
Mo Geiger

Video Editing
Inspiraacoes/Clara Soria and Hugo Resende

Assistant Camera/Field Audio Recorder
Alvin Dollow

Video Creative Collaborator
Felipe Morozini