Vernon Jordan, III

Vernon Jordan III has been invited to their first international artist residency at La Fourchette de Rōze in Côte d'Ivoire, hosted by Chef Roze Traore. This residency, providing housing, meals, studio space, artist materials, and local transportation, offers a return to the African continent for Vernon as a queer Black diasporic artist. They will spend 2-3 weeks deepening their explorations of Black queer lineages, engaging in ancestral listening, and building toward a new Super 8mm film entitled, CREDO FOR OUR SLIPPAGES, NESTING FOR OUR CARE & AUGUST MOON — a visual love letter to the erotic, mythic, and intimate worldmaking of Black queer and trans people globally. The residency also offers vital space for Vernon to advance their debut poetry chapbook.

The WOO Grant will support Vernon with airfare and purchasing a Super 8 camera.

Vernon Jordan, III is a Philly-born ‘n raised writer, filmmaker, poet, and teaching artist. As an afrofuturist, he expands upon African American memories, dreams, hauntings, queer kinship, and intimate fluidity; his priority is the merging of the visual and the musical: a Visual Lyricist. With a BA from Muhlenberg College (’16) and an MFA from Brooklyn College (‘19), Vernon is the Assistant Director of Programs at cinéSpeak, has taught as a Professor at Moore College of Art and Design, and will be joining the faculty at UArts in Spring 2023. Their recent short film, ONE MAGENTA AFTERNOON, has played at seven film festivals across the U.S. and two internationally, and is being developed into a feature film called Lavender Boy as part of the Outfest 2022 Screenwriting Lab; they are also a recipient of the 2022 Leeway Transformation Award.