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Garrett Bradley (born 1986) is an American filmmaker and director of short films, feature films, documentaries, and television. She is known for blending cinematic genres to explore the larger
sociopolitical Political sociology is an interdisciplinary field of study concerned with exploring how governance and society interact and influence one another at the micro to macro levels of analysis. Interested in the social causes and consequences of how p ...
significance of the everyday moments of her subjects' lived experience.


Early life and education

Bradley was born in New York City in 1986 to abstract painters Suzanne McClelland and Peter Bradley. Her parents divorced when she was two years old. At sixteen, Bradley made her first film, which involved her interviewing each of her parents about art, the other parent, and why they got a divorce. For Bradley, this first film project was an opportunity to ask her parents questions that she "didn't feel safe asking without a camera." She titled the film ''Be-Bop Fidelity'' and submitted it to the Bridge Film Festival run by her high school, the Brooklyn Friends School; there she won her first film award. Bradley studied religion at
Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...
, graduating in 2007, then earned her MFA in Directing at
UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...
in 2012. She is an alumna of the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Bradley's professional work began in college as a concert photographer for
Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...
's SummerStage.


Career

Her debut feature-length film, ''Below Dreams'', premiered at the 2014
Tribeca Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...
and followed the lives of three people in reverse migration from north to south, in pursuit of a fresh start. Bradley was noted for her lyrical, hybridized filmmaking style described by ''New York Magazine'''s Bilge Ebiri as “a slow-burn beauty...improvisatory, glancing, gorgeous and as much about the textured quality and imagery as it is about character development or class conflict.” ''Below Dreams'' was cast almost entirely from
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; an approach Bradley took after having no luck working with traditional casting directors in New Orleans. Many of the people depicted in the film, re-appear in later works. In 2017, Bradley co-founded Creative Council, an artist-led after-school program which was aimed at developing strong college portfolios and applications for students attending public high schools in New Orleans. Creative Council was supported by The New Orleans Video Access Center (NOVAC).


Notable Works


''Alone''

Bradley’s 13-minute documentary film ''Alone'' (2017), like her feature documentary film, ''Time'', focuses on incarceration in the United States from what Bradley has described as a "distinctly Black southern, feminist perspective." The short features Aloné Watts, a young woman whose boyfriend (a subject of Bradley's 2014 ''Below Dreams'') is incarcerated. The film depicts Watts' everyday life as she considers her future with her boyfriend; Fox Rich, protagonist of ''Time'', appears in the short. ''Alone'' premiered at the 2017
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...
where it was awarded the Short Form Jury Award in nonfiction and was released by the
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
OpDocs. In 2021, ''Alone'' was included in ''Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America'', an exhibition originally conceived by Okwui Enwezor for the New Museum.


''America''

Bradley's 2019 project, ''America'', is both a single channel film and multi-channel installation - composed of two distinct edits. ''America'' was first installed at the
New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...
and went on to be included in Bradley's first touring solo exhibition, ''Garrett Bradley: American Rhapsody'', at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, curated by Rebecca Matalon. ''American Rhapsody'' also traveled to The Momentary, August Wilson African American Cultural Center, and the
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (MOCA) is a contemporary art museum with two locations in greater Los Angeles, California. The main branch is located on Grand Avenue in Downtown Los Angeles, near the Walt Disney Concert Hall. MOCA's ori ...
. ''Projects: Garrett Bradley'' opened November 21, 2020 at the Museum of Modern Art, and was organized by Thelma Golden and Legacy Russell. The exhibition was part of a multiyear partnership between The Studio Museum in Harlem, The Museum of Modern Art and MoMA PS1. Roberta Smith of ''The New York Times'' wrote of the show “Bradley’s ambitious effort adds new energy to both Post-Minimalism and Pictures Generation appropriation art….Punctuated by the high-spirits and faster speed of “Field Day,” Bradley’s “''America'' sets us in motion, circling the screens, exploring the possible identities, stories and symbols of its shifting stories and their regular moments of aural and filmic lyricism. Not to mention some perceptual overload: Does the piece use two, three or four channels? You think the images proceed in matched pairs — especially since only two projectors are visible — but then suddenly, they don’t. In every way, this work is a constant discovery.''”'' The short film of the same title was called by ''Observer'' film critic Simran Hans the "most original film" she saw at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for an Independent Documentary Award by the
International Documentary Association International Documentary Association (IDA), founded in 1982, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) that promotes nonfiction filmmakers, and is dedicated to increasing public awareness for the documentary genre. Their major program areas are: Advocacy, Film ...
and released in 2020 by Field of Vision and The Criterion Channel. ''America'' set a new precedent as a short film in 2019 when it was given a week run at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a multi-arts center in Brooklyn, New York City. It hosts progressive and avant-garde performances, with theater, dance, music, opera, film programming across multiple nearby venues. BAM was chartered in 18 ...
, under the title ''Garrett Bradley's America: A Journey Through Time''. It was programmed alongside influenced and inspired works as well as a retrospective of Bradley's past films. Invited speakers included Saidiya Hartman,
Julie Dash Julie Ethel Dash (born October 22, 1952) is an American filmmaker, music video and commercial director, author, and website producer. Dash received her Master of Fine Arts, MFA in 1985 at the UCLA Film School and is one of the graduates and filmm ...
, and RaMell Ross. The event was in partnership with New York University's "Black Portraiture: V Memory and the Archive Past. Present. Future.” In ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of ...
,'' the author Maya Binyam wrote “Since the release of ''America'', Bradley has joined the ranks of archivist-artist, figures whose mission is often said by critics and curators to be a corrective to the archive’s irredeemable deficiencies. The narratives that make up history have obvious limitations: they leave people out. Art, on the other hand, is believed by practically everyone, except for those who actually make it, to be boundless. And so creative people are tasked with doing what the entrenched institutions that narrate and preserve history supposedly cannot: facilitate redress. Bradley’s work undercuts that expectation.”


''Time''

In 2020, Bradley presented her debut feature-length documentary, ''Time'', which was nominated for over 57 awards and twenty wins including an Academy Award nomination, 2020 Peabody Award, and Best Director Award in the U.S. Documentary Competition category at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Her debut feature was also included in ''Time'' Magazine’s “25 Defining Works of the Black Renaissance,” Barack Obama’s 2020 favorite film list, and The Hollywood Reporter’s “Hollywood Reporter Critics Pick the 50 Best Films of the 21st Century (So Far)” list.


Other Works

In 2021,
Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...
released ''
Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 25 weeks, the first Asian player to hold the ...
'', a three-part miniseries directed by Bradley. The series follows professional tennis player
Naomi Osaka is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked as the List of WTA number 1 ranked singles tennis players, world No. 1 in women's singles by the Women's Tennis Association, WTA for 25 weeks, the first Asian player to hold the ...
over a two-year period during the 2020
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. Filming took place throughout America, Japan, Haiti and Australia. During filming Bradley gave Osaka a camcorder to film her own footage also used throughout the series. It is a look inside the life of a professional athlete trying to navigate the pressures of being a global superstar. In 2022, Bradley had her inaugural exhibition with Lisson Gallery. ''Safe'', is the second in a trilogy which includes ''AKA''. These short films explore the nuanced overlap between women’s interior and exterior lives. Also, in 2022, Bradley and artist Arthur Jafa, collaborated on a split screen film installation ''a Negro, a Lim-o'', which was commissioned for MoMA's exhibition ''Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces''. The piece is derived from both artist's personal relationship to "JAM" and uses "JAM" archival material, conversations, and original footage.


Solo exhibitions

;2023 *''AKA'', COMA, Sydney, Australia ;2022 *''Garrett Bradley: Safe'', Lisson Gallery, London, UK *''Garrett Bradley: American Rhapsody'', The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA *''Garrett Bradley: American Rhapsody'', August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Pittsburgh, PA *''Projects 111: Garrett Bradley'',
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
, New York, NY ;2021 *''Garrett Bradley: American Rhapsody'', The Momentary, Bentonville, AR ;2019 *''Garrett Bradley: American Rhapsody'', Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, Houston, TX *''Garrett Bradley's America: A Journey Through Race and Time'', BAM Rose Cinemas, New York, NY


Group exhibitions

;2022 *''Just Above Midtown: 1974 to the Present'', The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY *''2022 Invitational Exhibition of Visual Arts'', American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY *''Toni Morrison's Back Book'', David Zwirner, New York, NY ;2021 *''Grief and Grievance: Art and Mourning in America'', New Museum, New York, NY *''Family: Visions of a Shared Humanity'',
Art Gallery of New South Wales The Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW), founded as the New South Wales Academy of Art in 1872 and known as the National Art Gallery of New South Wales between 1883 and 1958, is located in The Domain, Sydney, Australia. It is the most import ...
, Sydney, Australia ;2020 *''Cinque Monstre 2020: Convergence'', American Academy of Rome, Rome, Italy ;2019 *''Shirin Neshat + Garrett Bradley'', The Broad @ Array, Los Angeles, CA *''Bodies of Knowledge'',
New Orleans Museum of Art The New Orleans Museum of Art (or NOMA) is the oldest art museum, fine arts museum in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans. It is situated within City Park (New Orleans), City Park, a short distance from the intersection of Carrollton ...
. New Orleans, LA *''Whitney Biennial'',
Whitney Museum of American Art The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...
, New York, NY


Filmography

Film and television


References


External links

*
''Alone'' at the ''New York Times''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Garrett 1986 births African-American film directors University of California, Los Angeles alumni Filmmakers from New York (state) American women documentary filmmakers Living people Sundance Film Festival award winners Peabody Award winners 21st-century African-American people 21st-century African-American women Brooklyn Friends School alumni Smith College alumni