Uploaded September 2021 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Growing up in Los Angeles, Myshell Tabu realized how important it is to create spaces for an empowering community. Taking an imaginative and critical view of the social, political, and cultural issues of Black people throughout the diaspora, Myshell invites the audience to imagine and to speculate, to design a better future, and to carve out a better present.
About this Video Series
In response to Cauleen Smith’s explorations of radical generosity and intentional community-building, LACMA invited a few members of various L.A. communities to share stories that speak to the artist’s interests.
Watch the series intro video here: youtu.be/LHP9BbOlLSc
About Cauleen Smith
Cauleen Smith is a Los Angeles–based interdisciplinary artist whose work reflects upon the everyday possibilities of the imagination. Smith roots her work firmly within the discourse of mid-20th-century experimental film. A traveling solo exhibition of film, video, and installations, Give It or Leave It features a series of experimental portraits of different sites related to spirituality, creativity, and utopianism. Much of the research conducted for Smith’s film projects has taken place in California, on location at Alice Coltrane’s ashram, The Vedantic Center, and in history through a restaging of a photograph of nine dapper black men taken in 1966 at the Watts Towers by Bill Ray. Additional archival research delves into the 19th-century Black spiritualist Rebecca Cox Jackson, who was the Eldress of the first black Shaker community.
Find out more about on the exhibition pages:
Cauleen Smith: Give It or Leave It: lacma.org/art/exhibition/cauleen-smith-give-it-or-leave-it
Cauleen Smith: Stars in My Pocket and the Rent is Due: lacma.org/art/exhibition/cauleen-smith-stars-my-pocket-and-rent-due
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About LACMA
Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of nearly 140,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMA’s spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.
Connect with LACMA
Subscribe for our latest videos: lacma.org/videos
Explore our collection online: collections.lacma.org
Plan your visit to LACMA: lacma.org/visit
Support the museum and become a member: lacma.org/support
Follow us on social
Facebook: facebook.com/LACMA
Twitter: twitter.com/lacma
Tumblr: lacma.tumblr.com
Pinterest: pinterest.com/lacma
Instagram: instagram.com/lacma
Growing up in Los Angeles, Myshell Tabu realized how important it is to create spaces for an empowering community. Taking an imaginative and critical view of the social, political, and cultural issues of Black people throughout the diaspora, Myshell invites the audience to imagine and to speculate, to design a better future, and to carve out a better present.
About this Video Series
In response to Cauleen Smith’s explorations of radical generosity and intentional community-building, LACMA invited a few members of various L.A. communities to share stories that speak to the artist’s interests.
Watch the series intro video here: youtu.be/LHP9BbOlLSc
About Cauleen Smith
Cauleen Smith is a Los Angeles–based interdisciplinary artist whose work reflects upon the everyday possibilities of the imagination. Smith roots her work firmly within the discourse of mid-20th-century experimental film. A traveling solo exhibition of film, video, and installations, Give It or Leave It features a series of experimental portraits of different sites related to spirituality, creativity, and utopianism. Much of the research conducted for Smith’s film projects has taken place in California, on location at Alice Coltrane’s ashram, The Vedantic Center, and in history through a restaging of a photograph of nine dapper black men taken in 1966 at the Watts Towers by Bill Ray. Additional archival research delves into the 19th-century Black spiritualist Rebecca Cox Jackson, who was the Eldress of the first black Shaker community.
Find out more about on the exhibition pages:
Cauleen Smith: Give It or Leave It: lacma.org/art/exhibition/cauleen-smith-give-it-or-leave-it
Cauleen Smith: Stars in My Pocket and the Rent is Due: lacma.org/art/exhibition/cauleen-smith-stars-my-pocket-and-rent-due
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About LACMA
Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of nearly 140,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMA’s spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.
Connect with LACMA
Subscribe for our latest videos: lacma.org/videos
Explore our collection online: collections.lacma.org
Plan your visit to LACMA: lacma.org/visit
Support the museum and become a member: lacma.org/support
Follow us on social
Facebook: facebook.com/LACMA
Twitter: twitter.com/lacma
Tumblr: lacma.tumblr.com
Pinterest: pinterest.com/lacma
Instagram: instagram.com/lacma
