Onus music video was an idyllic collaboration where I got to work with creative and talented people, play with some blood and make a weird piece of art I’ve always wanted to make. I love this song by Christy Anna Wu more every time that I hear it.
There’s a line in there that might have snuck under the radar on your first listen: Reparations. For whatever racist reason reparations are something our capitalist af country still fails to address. Money is not a fix, but the absolute bare-minimum-starting-place to a sincere apology. Decades after WWII my Oma started getting her reparations from the Dutch government. They were sorry that they allowed Nazis to take their Jewish population so easily. They were sorry they didn’t do more to protect them. The payments she received for the rest of her life did not bring her entire family back nor did they stop her epigenetic trauma from being passed down to me. Reparations were Holland’s attempt at a real apology. The United States has so much to apologize for and reparations are a desperately needed first step to authentic and meaningful healing. Until this country gets its shit together, you can support individual reparations through organizations like this: https://voixnoire.com/
Christy Anna Wu was the catalyst for this project – she’s a talented director, musician, producer, art director… I could make an entire website dedicated to her creative capabilities. Above all she is a productive badass and I love making art with her. It was actually through Christy Anna (@cluumein) that we found a dope dream team: Avery Johnson (@averyjohnson.photo) and Kelly June Mitchell (@intrepid_hermit). They went to school together, they love working together and the level of creative comfort and shorthand they share elevated this project. My friend Julia Bergland (@juliab3291) took such compelling BTS that I spent days drooling over her photos. My very talented friend Ashley Gonzales (@mestizaoriginals) supplied some beautiful pieces for me to wear – I loved wearing her creations alongside very sentimental pre-war jewelry from my Oma. Don Farwell (@earwigstudio) did the final mix – his work is flawless. What a great team <3