Healing in Color (2022)

"When you are playing with color, it's much harder to be disingenuous." Too often, Black women are expected to adhere to unrealistic standards of perfection. They must be elegant, possess "magic," and are seldom granted the space to pause, reflect, and prioritize their own mental health. Culture's deniability as it relates to Black women's pain only leads to greater stigma surrounding the issue. In this way, HEALING IN COLOR asks, how can Black women create spaces of respite amidst the heartache? One solution: art. The film is born out of a desire to weave together intimate interviews of Black women with a community-grounded art therapy workshop. In this meditative and vulnerable space, five Black women are encouraged to confront their personal struggles with mental health, body shame, self harm, and much more, freeing from the constraints of the stigmatized habitual thinking. What unfolds is a mutual recognition about the realities of living in their skin, and the understanding that healing is lifelong, imperfect, and ultimately, best done in community.