In conjunction with LaRissa Rogers’s subterranean convergence, film curator Jheanelle Brown presents an evening of experimental short films, caves are our way home. Her selections explore the politics and narratives of the “subterranean,” physical and metaphorical underground networks, as a way of thinking and relating to each other, our ancestors, descendants, and the land. These films sit within Roger’s engagement with Zora Neale Hurston’s idea of ground thoughts, or earth knowledge, as a path to liberation.

Crystal Z. Campbell charts a path for future life by creating space for ancestor and descendant exchange. Christopher Harris uses Hurston’s explanation of her methods for documenting African American folk songs to examine cultural memory. Karthik Pandian’s Anoka takes the shared space of the Dakota, Ojibwa, and Sanskrit languages as a foundation for anti-colonial solidarity.  Adam Piron’s Yaangna Plays Itself makes sure that Los Angeles’s Indigenous history and origin as Yaangna, a Gabrieleño village, isn’t forgotten. Ground thoughts and geologic memory shape Cauleen Smith’s Mines to Caves, which challenges the extraction at the heart of modern life. Michelle Sui’s Street Angel examines the past, present, and future of Los Angeles’ Chinatown with intergenerational memories at the forefront. Taken together, these films offer space to contemplate history and refusal.

The film screening will be followed by a short conversation with Adam Piron and Cauleen Smith, moderated by Jheanelle Brown. Also accompanying the screening will be a Reading Room, also curated by Brown, and inspired by subterranean convergence.

Crystal Z. Campbell, Revolver, 2022, 17 mins
Christopher Harris, Halimuhfack, 2016, 4 mins
Karthik Pandian, Anoka, 2025, 12 mins
Adam Piron, Yaangna Plays Itself, 2022, 7 mins
Cauleen Smith, Mines to Caves, 2023, 10 mins
Michelle Sui, Street Angel, 2020, 20 mins

Now Instant’s venue has a forty-seat capacity. Seating is limited, so please purchase a $15 ticket with Now Instant to reserve your spot at the link here.

If the ticket price is prohibitive, please email us at info@clockshop.org, and we will provide you with a free code on a first-come, first-served basis. These free tickets are limited and can be provided to one person at a time.

ABOUT THE PROJECT
subterranean convergence, by artist LaRissa Rogers, is a sculptural installation and score for performance at Los Angeles State Historic Park that draws on the geographies of the transcontinental railroad between the American South and West to investigate the ways liberation has been conceptualized—and where it might still be. Over 50 community members and institutions between Los Angeles and New Orleans were invited to contribute objects of personal or historical significance. Within a simulated railroad, chinoiserie-style tracks hold tabby-cast reproductions of these objects on the former site of the Southern Pacific River Station. This project explores collective memory and memorial by archiving the movements of people and goods across generations and geographies.

ABOUT THE CURATOR
Jheanelle Brown is an educator, arts administrator, writer, and curator. Brown currently teaches at California Institute of Arts, where in addition to teaching film studies, she serves as curator for the Film at REDCAT program. Brown serves as a programmer for Los Angeles Filmforum, where she recently served as Project Director for Experimentations: Imag(in)ing Knowledge in Film for the Getty’s PST:Art initiative. At this moment, she is dreaming about cosmic marronage whilst trying to remember her terrestrial obligations.

ACCESSIBILITY
Parking & Arrival
Please note that Now Instant Image Hall is in Chinatown, and street parking in the surrounding neighborhood may be limited. Clockshop encourages guests to carpool, rideshare, bike, or use public transit. The Chinatown Metro A Line Station is located at 1231 N Spring Street, and Metro Bus Lines 45, 81, and 94 stop at Broadway and College Street.

Restrooms
Now Instant’s theatre is wheelchair accessible. However, the venue’s two restrooms are on the basement level, accessible by stairs. A wheelchair-accessible restroom will be available for ticket holders in the same plaza at 942 Chung King Road.

CREDITS
subterranean convergence by LaRissa Rogers was commissioned by Clockshop and curated by Cat Yang, Director of Artist Projects, and Isabel Yi Jimenez, Artist Projects Manager. Clockshop’s projects at Los Angeles State Historic Park are supported through our long-standing partnership with California State Parks.

The production of this work was generously supported by the Hearthland Foundation, the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, Anonymous Was A Woman, University of Virginia Karsh Institute and Department of Art, Accelerated Resilience Los Angeles, Betsy Greenberg, and Clockshop’s generous community of supporters.