2021 Stowe Story Labs Diverse Voices Fellow: Morgan B. Powell
By Robert Delaney
Morgan B. Powell is our 2021 Diverse Voices Fellow, and we are excited for them to join our creative community here at the Labs. Morgan is a writer, director, producer, and photographer born and raised in New York. They received a BA in sociology and anthropology from Spelman College and are now pursuing a MA in digital cinema production at the New School.
Their background in anthropology informs their work, where they create art that is critically conscious and explores the space around them. As they explain: “One of the things they taught us that really stuck with me and how I go about navigating life and my art, is that we can really turn the lens on ourselves. How can I be anthropological with my own life and excavate and navigate some of the questions that I have about the world that I’m living in?” Their thesis was about Spelman’s student’s attitudes towards queer identity, and this amplification of marginalized voices extends to their current work. “I try to treat every story that I come up with like another anthropological project. What am I trying to say? Who are these people? Who is this society? What is their place in it? What is the goal here?”
They are also interested in writing stories that explore Afro Futures: contributing to a genre that is incredibly rich, wide reaching, multidisciplinary impact. Morgan was first introduced to afrofuturism through music, with artists like Erykah Badu or Outcast, “I feel like everyone at that time had one foot in reality and one foot in this afrofuture that was creating this alternate realm in which we could be as expansive as we could possibly be.” This creative approach connects directly to their work today, “I think it was inevitable that I would find a lot of my joy and problem solving through that vision.”
The project Morgan submitted to the Labs is their script Cassie’s Sankofa. The script is a loose adaptation of a book of African folklore for children, and blends elements of afrofuturism and collectivism to explore the values they are passionate about. As Morgan describes: “Although it’s steeped in folklore, it has these thematic elements of collectivism and maintaining heritage through this folklore. It helps us inspire the imagination and pushes us to expand upon the reality we are currently living in. So I wanted to provide an example of how we can interpret and interrogate the values that we either don’t have or are aspiring to as a society.”
Besides their writing, Morgan directed the short film For Keap(s): An Ode to My Bodega (2019), which is an insightful portrait of the importance of corner stores in NYC communities. During the pandemic, they shot, Casual! Casual! Casual! (2020), which has a repetitive cycle that mirrors their feelings of being stuck in “groundhog day” during quarantine. Morgan is also directing three music videos for artist Yaya Bey who is signed to Ninja Tune Records.
We are happy Morgan found our fellowship, and they are excited to start developing their work with us. “Stowe provides the experiences I am looking for to take this story to the next level, but also the skills and resources I need to be a better filmmaker. From what I have researched it seems like Stowe really cares about each and every one that goes through the programs.” Morgan is an exciting young artist who is using their creative voice to explore the wisdom of their ancestors, the communities that surround them, and communicate their passions through a forward thinking conscious lens. We are looking forward to working with them this year and supporting their creative voice.
Robert Delany is an Academic Intern with Stowe Story Labs. He graduated in 2020 with an MA in cinema studies from NYU and was a Program Associate for the 2020 Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, where he now conducts interviews for their “Filmmaker Spotlight Series”. Robert also writes for Split Tooth Media, an independent film and music publication based in Portland, Oregon. He is currently acting as a researcher on the film ASCO: WITHOUT PERMISSION, directed by Travis Gutierrez Senger and produced by North of Now. He was also an Office Assistant at Senger’s production company, Asa Nisi Masa Films, where he focused on the development of numerous projects. Robert graduated in 2018 with a BS in film and TV from Boston University’s School of Communication. Robert Delany was selected for this academic internship to focus on interviews and other writing for The Story Board, Stowe Story Labs’ bi-monthly newsletter. He will also assist in the establishment of a curated short film platform for Stowe Alumni.
