CARVEDimages: all of the women. in me. are tired. is a research-based choreographic installation acknowledging the complex and nuanced experiences of black women in America. A large number of black women "shift" by altering the expectations they have for themselves or their outer appearance to accommodate or defy negative stereotypes. Transcribed through a series of shifting, bending, stumbling and tilting choreographer, Okwae A. Miller, takes an interdisciplinary approach in revealing the images of black women navigating America's racial and gender bigotry. CARVEDimages was inspired by black women and several literature sources including: When and Where I Enter by Paula Giddings, Shifting: The Double Lives of Black Women in America a research study by Charisse Jones and Kumea Shorter-Gooden and the application of The Crooked Room Theory by Melissa Harris-Perry in her scholarly text Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes and Black Women in America.
The work is a 12-minute solo set to an original score "Unhinged Virtue" by emerging composer Colin J. Harden, integrated with multi-media projections, “pride,” by Atlanta-based filmmaker Sandra Gallardo and set design by Malina Rodriguez produced in collaboration with Theatre Emory and The Lucky Penny. This work premiered at the 2016 Modern Atlanta Dance Festival.