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homegrown storytelling comprised of secret handshakes, childhood paracosms, and timeworn clothing passed down from bigcousins.
about
Jharae “J.J.” Jordan-Anderson is a self-taught filmmaker who fell in love with the connective power of storytelling while attending her parents’ NA & AA meetings as a kid. The witnessing of such vulnerable exchanges inspired her focus on creating loving representations of Black and Brown youth, as well as grown folks of color in the media. Much of J.J.’s work focuses on exploring the deeper aspects of culture, community, and intergenerational healing practices that preserve our unique spirits.
After attending Tuskegee University for one year, J.J. earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics at Cal State Northridge and co-founded the Los Angeles-based production company HRDWRKER. Through HRDWRKER, J.J. and the team developed a range of intentional content for entities like The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Destination Crenshaw, Studio Museum in Harlem, and more.
Her black curatorial-focused project, Positive Space, was labeled groundbreaking by Shonda Rhimes’ digital platform, Shondaland, on which it now streams.
Her tenderhearted spot, celebrating the C.R.O.W.N. ACT entitled Own Your Crown, was spotlighted by various outlets such as Good Morning America and Adweek. In October of 2021, J.J. was accepted into Array's inaugural film fellowship hosted by renowned disrupter & filmmaker Haile Gerima. In 2022, J.J. directed Home / Free in collaboration with Slack, now streaming on Amazon. The short film stars John Legend and shines a light on the overwhelming reentry barriers formerly incarcerated folks face regularly.
J.J.’s first feature film, Sacred Soil: The Piney Woods School Story, produced in collaboration with Andscape and SOTA is now streaming on Hulu and Disney+. The project delves into the minds and worlds of a group of students at a historically Black boarding school in Mississippi while celebrating the simplicity of their brilliant existence, as well as the fortitude of the school.
Her debut solo museum exhibition, Sometimes I Feel Like I Am Almost Home, is now on view at the California African American Museum.