WEDNESDAY 9 PM DECEMBER 4, 2024 PHILADELPHIA
This past Tuesday at Philly’s Switch House, artists popped out in their finest to attend the second annual Luminary Gala thrown by BlackStar Projects. Among those honored by the nonprofit, which makes it their mission to heal systemic imbalances in the art world, was the activist filmmaker, artist, and writer Tourmaline, whose biography of the great Marsha P. Johnson is coming in May. Along with Annemarie Jacir, Louis Massiah, and the New Negress Film Society, also among the night’s honorees, the video artist nibbled and schmoozed the night away with journalist J Wortham, who texted her when they both got home to debrief the big night.
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TOURMALINE: What are some fashions and fits you’re seeing tonight that are speaking to you? How’d you pick the fab fit you are wearing?
J WORTHAM: A BlackStar event in Philly never disappoints. People bust out these really fly looks that you don’t see in other cities on this North East corridor. They’re regal, funky, very colorful, drawing on more traditional West African shapes, colorways and designs—very Black. But Philly is also a very casual city, so I love that people can come to a gala dressed a bit more relaxed too. Why not? May we all be comfortable in the new year. My fit: I bought this Commes Des Garcon blazer to officiate the wedding of two of my best friends (Naima Green and Sable Elyse Smith) who got married last year in Martha’s Vineyard. It holds the memory of their love and the joy of that weekend, and I wear it when I want to infuse it with more. Celebrating your career and accomplishments and splendor was the perfect occasion. So, what did you notice? Did anything stand out to you? I also love that we both dressed like an elaborate foliage set piece from one of your films. Specifically, I’m thinking about Pollinator, which was part of the 2024 Whitney Biennial (holler!) What (or who) were you invoking with this gorgeous number?
TOURMALINE: I love how looks/fashions in their materiality can hold such powerful memories or be wearable portals to other moments. And I’m so honored that you would wear such a potent piece to this occasion. There’s something so profound in the surface—what some might call superficial—realm, and it reminds me of how deep superficial really is/how adornment allows access to and can unlock our most precious magic.
WORTHAM: We were perfectly matching foliage vibrations! I love the ruffles of this Vaquera dress and the expansiveness of it. It really spreads out in such a delicious way and in the middle of it is me! I think it’s also just fun frivolity. I think more and more I’m just tuning in to the fun and realizing that’s where my best ideas live, film or otherwise. So I love how you’re invoking comfort as a way into the new year. Yes please!
TOURMALINE: We’re amongst all these filmmakers, is it sparking a desire for more film for you? I know you’ve produced and have been in film/tv before. Is there a new film that’s being created in your mind’s eye?
WORTHAM: I’ve always been so inspired by your practice and it was a delight to see Annemarie Jacir, Louis Massiah and the New Negress Film Society get properly anointed and recognized on stage. It matters so much when we recognize ourselves versus waiting for mainstream white institutions do it for us. That was powerful. And yes, I’ve been working on a project about queer water|ways and the hidden histories of these often ephemeral communities, the coalitions and world-building (and cruising!) that happens along the coast. It started with oral histories and now I want to expand it to a book and a short film.
TOURMALINE: Did you meet anyone who surprised you tonight ?
WORTHAM: I was so happy to meet Shannon Maldonado who runs the storefront Hello Yowie. Her taste and creative design is impeccable. She was also just so effortlessly cool, you know? Did you meet anyone who surprised you?
TOURMALINE: I did! I saw Adjoa Jones de Almeida who is the ED of Forman Arts Initiative. I met Adjoa in the early 2000s after she co-founded Sista ii Sista in Brooklyn, dedicated to supporting young women of color in Brooklyn to develop personal and collective power. I remember constantly being in awe of her and the work they were all doing, reading and studying her words in The Revolution Will Not Be Funded. Sista ii Sista also made a documentary about their work that inspired Taking Freedom Home, the short documentary we made in the Queers for Economic Justice, led by the brilliant now ancestor Kagendo Murungi.
WORTHAM: You said something in your speech that resonated with me. When you first started out, you asked Arthur Jafa to recommend a cinematographer and he suggested himself, which was a moment where you recognized you don’t need to limit yourself in terms of collaborators and possibilities. What other thresholds are you surpassing these days? Either creative, spiritual, or emotional?
TOURMALINE: That was such a big moment for me! I learned, why wait to ask for what you really want? A lot of times those potential collaborators are eager to be working with you too! I think the main threshold right now is the biography of Marsha P. Johnson I wrote, it is so wild to me to have this once dreamed-up idea becoming a tangible object. I remember when you told me in my studio a few years ago that books are their own technology and I really felt that when I opened up the box holding the early copy.
WORTHAM: How late are you staying out tonight? I’m on a train back to NYC at 10:30—love a quick day trip—and then a hot bath with Japanese cedar bath salts. What about you? Do you have a post-event wind-down routine?
TOURMALINE: Japanese cedar bath salts! That sounds so replenishing! I also love a quick day trip and am honestly about to go to sleep soon. My wind down is usually some YouTube videos, I’m in a “how are theme park rides engineered” hole right now so I’ll probably fall asleep to that.