My student pick for the month of September is the screening of the documentary: Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am. This film tells the life story of the renowned and late female African American author, Toni Morrison, as well as explores the themes of race, history, America and the human condition. The IU Fine Arts Theater will be screening the documentary on the night of September 27th at 8pm.
I am very excited about seeing the film because I have a lot of respect for Toni Morrison and her career. I am also glad that the IU Fine Arts Theater is taking part in bringing this film to IU since it is very timely in respect to her recent passing. She has made historical feats within the humanities, within black history and culture, and has written many works, from which, she has gained incredible recognition. Morrison has won a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction as well as the Nobel Prize in Literature. I have only read some of her work, but I know that she is an icon. I am excited to see the documentary because I will get to see her life and her journey as a writer. This means so much more since she passed away in August. As an African American female artist, it is very inspiring to see how she became very successful, especially in perspective of the struggles she faced throughout her lifetime.
In my following of Morrison, I have only heard a glimpse of her creative process, but through this documentary I hope to gain more insight on how she approaches her craft and her mindset towards writing, language, and her power as an artist. I am not a writer, but I think it is helpful insight to see how other artists engage with their work and I think that insight is transferable across mediums. Along with this, I hope to just get to know more about her as a person, to see more of her personality, and to see more of the qualities that make her so relatable and inspiring to so many people.
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