Breaking the Silence

a mental health conversation 

The Black On Black Project and Leland Cultural Arts Center have partnered on a series of virtual conversations using the arts to help address the mental health implications of the COVID-19 pandemic. Using video art, representatives from the Black On Black Project will have virtual discussions about how artists worked through their own mental health journey.

The video art project we've used, called "Break the Silence," features poet Johnny Lee Chapman, III and dancer and choreographer Anthony Otto Nelson, Jr. working through how mental illness affects people. As part of the Leland Cultural Arts Center collaboration, Black On Black Project shares the original "Break the Silence" video plus a breakdown of the work featuring an interview by film director and BOBP founder Michael S. Williams conducted with Chapman and Nelson. The interview serves as a virtual panel discussion of sorts, where the artists share their mental health experiences and how they were able to convey them in the work.

A second virtual experience has been offered to students in the Greater Wilmington area that features a modified live version of the experience with students so they can ask questions in real-time. There will be two sessions.

Participants and roles

Johnny Lee Chapman, III - Poet
Anthony Otto Nelson, Jr. - Choreographer/dancer
Michael S. Williams - Project coordinator, video director

Video art info

"Break the Silence" Spoken Word and dance presented through video; runtime 3:20
Poetry by Johnny Lee Chapman, III; choreography by Anthony Nelson, Jr.
Directed by Michael S. Williams; filmed by Jason Wolonick with editing by Rebecca Ward

The thing about mental illness is that it works in a cycle. It has periods of flaring and of staying silent. Those with it will occasionally fall into a spiral, sinking to depths due to past trauma. But we don't stay here. We rise higher, continuing to heal and deal with situations in new ways. We have walked through the tunnel, traversed the darkened woods, but what next? What happens after the cycle has been broken and we reach the coveted end of the tunnel? What is it that lies beyond the light?

This project was supported by the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural & Cultural Resources.