A Shared Story on Canvas
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Date: March, 15, 2023
Role: Video Production Lead
Services: Video Director, Concept Development, Location Scout, Crew Management, Videography, Editing, Coloring, Production Design
Location: WOMPA
Talent: Black Moon Artist Collective - Jiji Coul, Omni Meraki, Rah, and C.A.P.
Crew: Benji Osborne – Director of Photography
The second installment of the Ascension St. John mental health series pushed me into a new creative lane. After the roundtable, the Tulsa Creative Engine founders knew this next chapter needed to center the experiences of Tulsa’s Black creative community in a way that felt intentional and personal. Black Moon had long been a cornerstone of that scene, and WOMPA — their home base — offered the perfect backdrop for a story that balanced artistry with vulnerability.
A few days before filming, the concept came to me that uniquely symbolized the project itself: a communal canvas exercise. Each artist would paint for ten minutes without seeing what came before them, building on one another’s work the same way we lean on each other through mental health challenges. Benji Osborne and I captured everything — the bold strokes, the hesitations, the moments of laughter, and the slow-motion details that made the process feel almost meditative. Afterward, we shifted into one-on-one interviews, where each artist unpacked the realities of navigating mental health as a Black creative in Tulsa.
By the time we revealed the finished painting, the metaphor had written itself. But the story didn’t end there. The canvas was later auctioned to raise funds for local mental health initiatives, turning a symbolic exercise into something that literally contributed to the cause. It became one of the clearest examples of how intentional storytelling can ripple outward and create real impact.
