Reimagining Nellie’s World
This World is Not My Own weaves together different storytelling components to create a world of unexpected connections, limitless imagination, and personal reflection.
Because Nellie Mae Rowe was a poor, self-taught, Black female artist in the 20th century, there is very little archival material available to help tell her story. In this limitation, we saw a creative opportunity.
We created detailed sets that reimagine Nellie’s home, known as “the Playhouse,” and partnered with Kaktus Film to design and animate 3D characters in Nellie’s and her gallerist’s likenesses. Actresses, Uzo Aduba and Amy Warren, perform scripted scenes based on Nellie Mae Rowe quotes. Their recorded voices and movements make the animated Nellie and Judith come to life.
We used motion capture technology to replicate human expressions and movement performed by Uzo and Amy, along with their voices. Green-screen, rotoscope, and other post production technologies allow these 3D animations to exist in physical sets in a way that is true to life and full of rich detail.
The Playhouse Sets and 3D Animations are the heart of this film, and allow us to connect emotionally to Nellie Mae Rowe and Judith Alexander, hear the tenor of their interactions, disagreements, and inside jokes.
Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe
Nellie Mae Rowe Exhibit on Tour
Really Free: The Radical Art of Nellie Mae Rowe, a major retrospective exhibit of Rowe’s art opened at Atlanta’s High Museum in the fall of 2021, and will travel to museums all over the country through 2023. The show went to the Brooklyn Museum in the fall of 2022, where it received rave reviews and much attention.
Included in the show are our film sets from This World is Not My Own and a short film we made especially for the exhibit. Our Producer, Ruchi Mital, also authored an essay for the exhibit catalogue about our process making This World is Not My Own.
Really Free at the High Museum was named one of 2021’s best art exhibits by The New York Times, and the exhibit catalogue was named one of the best art books of the year. Really Free at the Brooklyn Museum was named one of 2022’s best art exhibits by The New York Times.
