Success in Post Award-winning artist and alumna Jameelah Nuriddin shares about her fulfilling career giving voice to marginalized communities. PHOTO BY
Bob Turton
JAMEELAH NURIDDIN BFA ’06 has made a career out of socially-conscious storytelling. Part of her success is an ability to adapt to new technology — and to pivot when obstacles arise. A case in point: In 2020, Nuriddin was all set to direct a series of live-action short films urging young Black women in Alabama to learn about government and register to vote. She and her producing partner had grant money, had cast several Alabama teens and were ready to shoot. Then, COVID-19 shut down production. Nuriddin and her crew switched to animation, using voiceovers from the teens. Although Nuriddin, an award-winning film editor, had not worked in animation before, she came to appreciate its creative possibilities. “It changed me as an artist,” she says. “I had to adjust, but I found so much creativity while playing with a new medium to bring in many new ideas. It deepened my ability to tell a story because I couldn’t rely on some of the things I had always relied on.” The animated docuseries, Shaping Our State, has been warmly received, and is being submitted to festivals. Nuriddin now
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is in talks to do similar work in Georgia. “We want everyone to see the series because it has a very empowering message,” she says. “There are so many more states that need this and need to push more women of color to have positions of leadership.” Nuriddin’s latest project, a short film about a Black woman’s mental health journey called Wholeness, just finished filming. It encompasses live action and rotoscope, which she describes as “a blur between live action and animation, where you paint over live film.” It is a deeply personal project where she employed many of her talents — as an actress, director, writer, editor and producer. She hadn’t planned on taking on all those roles herself, but she decided not to wait until she could afford to hire others. “I wanted to have more people have credits on the film, but I didn’t want to wait,” she says. “I felt really resolute, like this is going to happen. And I think a lot of artists can recognize that in themselves.” Nuriddin’s storytelling almost always focuses on giving voice to marginalized communities, particularly Black women. Another recent
