** Presented in partnership with SFMOMA **

Ad astra per aspera, or “to the stars with great difficulty,” is the thesis driving artist Nicole Miller’s exploration of identity, voice, pain, and possibility.

To create this work, Miller filmed interviews, performance rehearsals, and behind-the-scenes moments with prominent figures of color in the arts and sciences, including choreographer Alonzo King and the LINES ballet company, opera singer J’Nai Bridges, violinist Jessica McJunkins, and NASA astronaut Yvonne Cagle, as well as students in Bay Area schools. Miller is a conceptual artist known for her inventive uses of video, often incorporating documentary-style methods into evocative mixed-media installations that deal with self-representation and the experience of looking. Commissioned by SFMOMA, Miller intended this new work for the museum’s Phyllis Wattis Theater; in installation form, the work combines video and sound elements with a dynamic laser-light display.

Two of Miller’s earlier installation works, For Now and Athens, California, are part of the Henry Art Gallery’s In Plain Sight exhibition.

Production credits:
Cinematography: Zak Forrest
Music and sound design: John Somers
Additional music: CPSL0CK @ District Sound Lab
Sound recording/mixing: Philip Perkins
Sound mixing: Gary Nardino and Calin Enache @ District Sound Lab
Laser animation: Zak Forrest

Artwork credit: Generous support for Nicole Miller’s To the Stars is provided by Marjory Graue and Martin Bloes. Meaningful support is provided by Wayee Chu and Ethan Beard

Photo credit: Opera singer J’Nai Bridges filmed by Nicole Miller for this commission. Nicole Miller, To the Stars, 2019 (still); commissioned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; image: courtesy the artist.