USA / 2021 / 6mins / Documentary, Performance / English

When We Gather celebrates the women who have played an elemental role in the progress of the United States and offers a call to create a path forward for the leaders of the future. Conceived by renowned artist María Magdalena Campos-Pons, in collaboration with LaTasha N. Nevada Diggs and Okwui Okpokwasili, the artists choreographed circular movements and gestures from diverse traditions evoking storms, spirals, and ancestral energy. The soundscape incorporates both lyrics and a poem written by Diggs for the project. When We Gather was originally inspired by the election of the country’s first female vice president and performed during a pandemic by seven artists in separate studios and outdoor spaces in Brooklyn, Houston, Boston and Nashville then woven together by director Codie Elaine Oliver (Black Love, OWN). The project was produced over an eight-week period by San Francisco based gallerist Wendi Norris.
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Codie Elaine Oliver

Codie Elaine Oliver is CEO and co-founder of Black Love, Inc., a growing media company comprised of BlackLove.com, Black Love’s social and digital platforms, and live and virtual events, including the annual Black Love Summit. She is the NAACP Image Award-nominated director and co-creator of the ground-breaking docuseries Black Love which premiered as the most-viewed unscripted series in OWN’s history and is set to return for its fifth season in 2021. Oliver is also a partner at Confluential Content, a company she shares with her husband Tommy Oliver, and the production company behind the recent HBO documentary 40 Years a Prisoner, and the Netflix film, The Perfect Find, starring Gabrielle Union. Prior to Black Love, Oliver had stints at Film Independent, Fox Searchlight, and Creative Artists Agency. Oliver received her Master’s degree from the Peter Stark Producing Program at USC and is a proud Howard University alum, a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, and mama to three boys. Learn More