Artist and activist Tourmaline uses ‘freedom dreaming’ as a tool to manifest change

In this episode of ‘Meet the artists,’ filmmaker, writer, activist, and storyteller Tourmaline invites us into her studio on the 28^th floor of Four World Trade Center. From there, she transforms often forgotten stories – like those of trans activists Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera – into films.

Tourmaline calls on each of us to acknowledge that the experience of pleasure is our right. ‘We get to relax, we get to release outdated ways of thinking: that the harder you work the more important that you are,’ she remarks. Her practice also touches on space travel and Afro-futurism, which she understands as a way of imagining ‘what's possible, even in conditions that tell us otherwise.’

Tourmaline is represented by Chapter NY and was on view in the Statement sector at Art Basel’s 2022 Swiss edition, where she also received the Baloise Art Prize.

Film by: Barbara Anastacio
Director Of Photography: Adam Uhl
1st AC: Austin Kite
Gaffer: Joe Albino
Sound: Patrick O'rourke
Editor: Barbara Anastacio
Music: Mythologen-Gold2016
Höga Nord Rekords (Courtesy of Melody Sync)

Nowness
Creative Director: Bunny Kinney
Managing Editor: Gavin Humphries
Video Commissioner: Katie Metcalfe
Producer: Noor Miah
Video Editor: Harry Bowley

Commissioned by Alicia Reuter and Jeanne-Salomé Rochat for Art Basel