i grieve different.

A tribute to Tyrik and a peek into Backcountry, Red Clay

Image: A film still on 16mm film stock that features a shelf three columns of land deed records, bound in large books at the Edgefield County Archive. Shot on Kodak Vision 500T by Ireashia Bennett.

“One cannot control [the specter’s] comings and goings because it begins by coming back.” — Jacques Derrida

Today is my younger brother Tyrik’s birthday and the day of his death. He would have turned 28 years old today—had he lived past 2021. The ache from his absence and our estrangement feels really hard to hold right now. November was his favorite month, Thanksgiving his favorite holiday because of the food but also because of time with family. I always saw the softness beyond the hard exterior he had to create as he grew older. Not only was he dark-skinned but he was fat and disabled—he remained the target of many hurtful jokes when we grew up. He loved family and had a big heart, sometimes too big of a heart. When I was broke while in college in Chicago, he helped me eat by sending some his disability check he received. Tyrik was the first person to encourage me to make a film about our family. In many ways, Backcountry, Red Clay is a tribute to him and our love for him.

Images: Childhood photographs featuring Ireashia Bennett and their siblings Kehniah Watts and Tyrik Watts.

I wish I had more memories with him. I wish we were closer before he died. I hope he knew how much I loved him, despite our distance. I honor him by remembering and listening to the memories my family members have with him. He lives on in our hearts and minds.

Rest easy, Tank. You deserved the world.

---

“Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.” — James Baldwin

Image: Ireashia Bennett sits at a table in the Edgefield County Archives with large books in front of them. They are grasping a leather-bound book that is titled “Will Book” on its spine. Photography by Mahasin Bintuabdulkareemidris

Jacques Derrida, French philosopher and author of Spectre of Marx, coined the concept of spectrality and hauntology, which highlights the ways the past is always present and argues against a linear view of time. In his works, he’s identified cinema as a haunted medium. Through this lens, as referenced in Blis Cua Lim’s essay, “Spectral Time, Heterogeneous Space” Derrida states that justice is being accountable to ghosts, “to those who are no longer with us yet still are…”

Image: Film still of ceramic wind chimes hanging in the home of Ireashia’s great-granmother. Photo by Ireashia Bennett

“Historical accountability is a matter of being responsible, not merely to the past but also to noncontemporaneity, to the ghosts who perturb the present with their simultaneous presence and absence, making a simple fenced-in present impossible.” - Bliss Cua Lim

In some ways, documentary and non-fiction filmmaking is a pathway towards historical accountability. It invites us to remember the words, actions, and lives of those no longer with us. Similarly, archival research becomes a site of grief and a site of justice. The past always presses up against our concept of the present. The past shifts, clarifies, and expands our conceptions of what already exists. In Backcountry, Red Clay I position my discoveries of the past alongside the living memories of my grandmother, Gwendolyn Bennett, who has served as my family’s historian for as long as I can remember.

Below, I am sharing a scene from the film where I visit the Aiken Public Library to do a scene of me conducting light research on Edgefield County’s cemeteries and Black land ownership. The scene begins in the Aiken Public Library before transitioning into the Edgefield County Archives.

This is a roughly cut scene, so the audio is not yet perfectly mixed. But, I’m proud of it and wanted to share.

Big Shout out to the Backcountry, Red Clay Production Team:
Director, Editor - Ireashia Bennett
Sound Recordist, Exec Producer - Erisa Apantaku
Assistant Director - Lunise Cérin
Director of Photography - cai thomas
Producer - Shawn Salomon
1st AC/BTS Photographer - Mahasin Bintuabdulkareemidris
Production Assistant - S’haleam Bandy

Please enjoy this mood playlist that features songs reminiscent of my spent in the South.

I am excited to share more with you all soon.