Picture this: “Black bodies floating joyfully in zero gravity environments, their figures blooming into one another through prismatic refraction.”
Using gravity as a symbol for oppression, artist Kambui Olujimi will send ten participants on parabolic flights that will free fall from a high altitude, resulting in a moment of zero gravity. During this sliver of time, the participants will be photographed to capture their reactions and expressions of feeling weightless — to capture what if feels like to be without oppression. The goal for his film is to reconstruct the heavy narrative of Black bodies by showing a moment of serenity and freedom in hopes of introducing a new perspective.
“The Black body is too often saddled as a station of trauma and violence, making Black Rhapsody an anomaly. North Star interrupts this narrative by recontextualizing the site of Blackness and Black bodies as a strategy for resistance against the gravity of oppression.” -**Kambui Olujimi**
Olujimi just set up a [Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kambuiolujimi/north-star?ref=65ezdo&token=03f7ab35) for the necessary resources needed to create his film titled _North Star._ His film was chosen to develop at Kehinde Wiley’s Black Rock Senegal residency.
Olujimi hopes to raise $25,000 in order to turn his vision into a reality and to cover the costs of the flights. There will be pledge rewards that include dinner with the artist, a copy of the completed North Star video, film credits, signed concept drawings, and much more.
“What does the Black body, devoid of the gravity of oppression, look like? What is the Black body in zero gravity?” — artist Kambui Olujimi on North Star.
[Donate now here](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kambuiolujimi/north-star?ref=65ezdo&token=03f7ab35)
Kambui Olujimi, sketch for _North Star_. Image courtesy of the artist.
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