Roots Grow Together
The short film series is based upon the Echoes book trilogy, intending to create visceral and healing experiences for the audience incorporating musical and narrative elements. Each film focuses on different metaphysical themes relating to the precious and interrelated qualities of human existence.
"Digital Tapestries is an artistic, creative, and spiritual safe space for anyone to enter and embrace that brings diversity, inclusion, and acceptance to the forefront of its work. Founder and filmmaker Hart Ginsburg meditatively brings together both the lived day-to-day realities and the abstract aspects of life and relationships through digital meaning making techniques. Their work helps to advance social justice dialogues that integrate a sense of hope and well-being through colorful images, short films, music, and interactive activities. Their focus helps us to collectively create an opening for alternative narratives that embrace disability and mental health justice in the context of overlapping identities and roles. As a partner and ally of an academic circle, Digital Tapestries accepts, explores, and celebrates the beauty of people, cultures, languages, environments, and communities. As part of our kinship work, we promote a sense of belonging and inclusivity through the use of metaphors and transformative storytelling techniques."
- Dr. Rooshey Hasnain
Art Response Activity with Roots Grow Together
On Valentine’s Day at the University of Illinois, Digital Tapestries was given the privilege to facilitate ‘Roots Grow Together’, an art response activity with Dr. Rooshey. The class focuses on past historical trauma and current conditions (including mental health topics) that impact Asian American communities. I was deeply impressed by the students’ abilities to convey their unique visions. We began the class by having students trace their hands, then they wrote down 5 of their most prominent past influences on each of their fingers. After showing our short film, ‘Roots Grow Together’, we had the students turn their hands into tree roots to symbolize future growth. The goals of this project were to: 1) increase awareness of how the past impacts our intersectional identities, and 2) encourage students to envision the type of future self-progression they want to develop.
Please view some of their images below.
Moon Shadows
Beautiful! Superb! Very therapeutic! Might we have been looking at the same moon on the same day and time? It is such a capturing piece. Thank you for your artistic endeavor that enriches our lives and journeys. - Su Eimer
The familiarity of the location, the music, and the movements bring such comfort, thank you!
- FilAm Artist Coalition
The quality, the editing, the emotion, the talent, the pureness! Love it all!
- Steven Lamar
Kelsey Mira, Musician & Vocalist
To stop and see the beauty that exists in our environments and to awaken our inner artist as we recover from one journey to the next is expressed in this film. Thank you for the uplifting message.
Words from the Digital Tapestries team
Ginger Leopoldo, Honorary Advisor
