Ja’Tovia Gary’s video work transports viewers into another world. Her lush combinations of sound, archival footage, and splashes of color create disorienting, dreamlike experiences that explore questions of sexuality, Blackness, womanhood, and history. She is best known for highly conceptual, timeless work that is rooted in—among many things—her obsession with and appreciation of Black historical archives. An early, formative lesson as a film student introduced her to Sergei Eisenstein’s methods of montage-editing—placing together disparate clips to create new meaning. Using the historic film director’s method, Gary is able to develop ever-changing, nuanced discussions on age-old concepts. And while she’s often regarded as an experimental filmmaker, she emphasized that she’s committed to using both formal and avant-garde techniques in her work. Ultimately, Gary’s work unearths the intricacies of Blackness that are often misrepresented. The artist is featured in The Artsy Vanguard 2020.