Light Work’s Urban Video Project is pleased to present the exhibition of This Side of Salina by filmmaker Lynne Sachs exploring reproductive justice from October 12 – December 28 at our architectural projection venue on the Everson Museum facade in downtown Syracuse.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Sachs will be present for the special event Communities of Care: Documenting Reproductive Justice in a Post-Roe Country in Watson Theater at Light Work (on the SU campus) on Thursday, October 17 at 5:30pm.

About the Work

This Side of Salina
HD video and stereo sound
Duration: 11:50
2024

Four Black women from the gritty and tenacious city of Syracuse, New York, reflect on sexuality, youthful regret, emotional vulnerability, raising a daughter, and working in reproductive health services. In a series of their own choreographed vignettes, each woman thoughtfully engages with the neighborhoods she’s known all of her life. Two performers flip through classic 1960s titles by Black authors in a bookstore. Others sit in a hat store finding time to pour into each other, as mentors and confidantes. These are businesses that are owned by local Black women, and they know it. In Brady Market, a community grocery, they playfully shop and chat with ease and confidence. They dance to their own rhythms in the outdoor plaza of the Everson Museum of Art. Together they look down at the city from its highest point and ponder how to battle the inequities of the place that they call home.

Commissioned by Light Work as part of the UVP Residential Media Commission program

CREDITS 

Featuring: J’Viona Baker, Vernahia Davis, Ja’Rhea Dixon, Angela Stroman

Director: Lynne Sachs

Cinematographers: Anneka Herre, Lynne Sachs, Zelikha Zohra Shoja, Monae Kyhara Sims

Editor: G. Anthony Svatek 

Production support: Minnie S. McMillian, Devon Narine Singh, Hilary Warner

Additional recording: Saptarshi Lahiri

Sound Design: Kevin T. Allen

In consultation with Tiffany Lloyd, Director of Women’s Health and Empowerment, Allyn Foundation Campaign Manager, Layla’s Got You

Shot on location in Syracuse, New York at Black Citizens Brigade, Brady Market, The Classic Bop Hat Boutique, Everson Museum of Art Community Plaza, and Upper Onondaga Park

About the Artist

Artist’s website: www.lynnesachs.com

Sponsors

This project was made possible through a Support for Artists grant by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

The UVP program is made possible with a Tier Three Project Support grant from the County of Onondaga, with the support of County Executive Ryan McMahon and the Onondaga County Legislature, administered by CNY Arts.