Short documentary, TRT: 15:10
Collaboration with Nicole Martin
The Keeping Space is a short documentary that celebrates the often-invisible labor of maintenance work by offering a portrait of Shelia Lackey, a 61-year-old African American woman who works as a custodian at the University of Kentucky. Turning toward the everyday work of cleaning, the film concentrates on the attention and exertion of mopping, wiping, dusting, scrubbing, and vacuuming, and the expertise and outlook that Shelia brings to the job. The film weaves together the everyday rhythms of work and Shelia’s own reflections on keeping space, discrimination, purpose, being alive, and caring for others. The percussion of the River City Drum Corp—a youth drum corps from Louisville, Kentucky—further accentuates the tempo of cleaning and connects Shelia’s labor to African American cultural traditions and the broader region.
JENA SEILER 