A road trip to nowhere, perhaps along the coast or through the tunnels and mountains of California. All this peppered with psychedelia, spectral visions, amulets, and the always insurmountable gaze of the full moon. The Pakistani American musician known as Blood Cultures releases their music video for Beneath the Moon & Me, a compilation of juxtaposed videos that signify life and death through the depiction of elements like the sun and moon in each of their eyes and referencing the feeling of seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.
Blood Cultures as an artist is an extremely secretive individual who is going through a total transformation, beginning to lift their veil, or in this case burka, in honour of their heritage and background. They are here to show how they have had to live in such a hostile environment in the 2000s, following the underrepresentation of black and brown people in the media, as well as their vilification through harmful stereotypes. In their own words, following the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, they have been enlightened to "try to find out who you are besides 'the other'." And through videos like these, Blood Cultures is able to portray this search as well as the mixed feelings that come with them.
Beneath the Moon & Me is a journey of introspection that forces us to confront our true identity, this is masterfully reflected in the video directed by Sam Kristofki, who composes a visual chronicle that is as stimulating as it is mysterious. The artist is on a mission to combat ignorance and remind other South Asian people who may be on that same journey to follow them, as they are not alone.
Beneath the Moon & Me is a journey of introspection that forces us to confront our true identity, this is masterfully reflected in the video directed by Sam Kristofki, who composes a visual chronicle that is as stimulating as it is mysterious. The artist is on a mission to combat ignorance and remind other South Asian people who may be on that same journey to follow them, as they are not alone.
