Filmmaker Statement

“Healing comes when the individual remembers his or her identity—the purpose chosen in the world of ancestral wisdom—and reconnects with that world of Spirit.” - Malidoma Patrice Somé These words from one of my favorite authors illuminate what I see in House of Aama, the mother-daughter team of Rebecca Henry and Akua Shabaka. Their website describes House of Aama as a “spiritual expression…in material form,” which I find an accurate description for the world-building they create with their garments. Their recent collections have paid tribute to Akua’s father and Rebecca’s late former partner, Jamaiel Shabaka, a prolific Afro-Caribbean musician active in Los Angeles’s Free Jazz scene. In the film, I wanted to capture some of the difficulties they navigated after his death in 2021 and their process of creating "Sun Records", their latest collection honoring his Free Jazz legacy.