Tar Baby Jane (2012)

Tar Baby Jane is an observational documentary that captures the complexity of artist Vanessa German as a person; reveals the processes through which her work is created; and chronicles the public response to her current sculptures and performances. The film demonstrates how the creation of art has been a therapeutic, transformative and healing force in the life of someone whose bouts with debilitating depression once made life unbearable. Vanessa German's work is inspired by the everyday, ordinary magic of language, shape, form, function and purpose. Her sculptures, or "tar babies", are made of re-appropriated objects that at once retain their intended identity while perfectly accepting Vanessa's transfiguration. Vanessa's tar babies are an exercise in the construction of self: we are not simply what others see; we are all that we can grasp and hold together. Tar Baby Jane observes Vanessa as she brings together the necessary elements for creating her sculptures for a solo exhibition; gives public performances; and navigates her personal life. Through observation and interviews, Tar Baby Jane reveals how Vanessa is constructing her own identity as an artist and woman as she pieces together and gives life to the tar babies, poems and performances that define, shape and reveal her life.