Journey to the Moon Shines a Light on the Humanity of Queer Black Women
Tara McNamara Imagine an astronaut facing impending doom on the moon, whose only connection to humanity is the voice of mission control. Who do you picture? In writer-director Shanrica Evans’ Indeed Rising Voices short “Amina,” the titular astronaut is a Black queer woman and the voice from Earth is her wife Noa, grounded because she’s pregnant with their baby. Neither any real-life space agency nor the astronauts of typical Hollywood fare have achieved that level of representation for gay Black people, but Evans, who was raised by her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother in Decatur, Ga., has made it her mission to create a more inclusive world through art — starting with her own community.