Elena Guzman
Elena Herminia Guzman is an Afro-Caribbean scholar-artist, filmmaker, and assistant professor at Indiana University. Her work focuses on African diasporic ritual, religion, and Black feminist visual storytelling. A priestess of Lukumí (La Regla Osha), Espiritismo, and Palo Mayombe, her artistic practice bridges experimental film, ritual, and sacred memory work. Her award-winning hybrid documentary Smile4Kime (PBS/Black Public Media, 2023) explores friendship, mental health, and spirituality. Guzman’s work challenges colonial documentary forms, embracing the visual and sensorial as divine acts of remembrance, healing, and resistance.
Oríkì Oshun
Oríkì Oshun is an experimental short film that honors the Orisha Oshun, a central figure in Yoruba cosmology and spirituality. Rooted in the Yoruba tradition of oríkì—a performative act of praise that invokes the essence, attributes, and destiny of a person, place, or deity—this film reimagines the possibilities of storytelling through a multisensory, synesthetic cinematic experience. Through a series of interconnected vignettes, Oríkì Oshun weaves together sacred stories (pataki) that reveal the multidimensionality of Oshun. While often celebrated as the Orisha of beauty, love, and wealth, this film ventures beyond these familiar portrayals, offering a deeper and more complex vision of Oshun’s identity. It explores her sacrifices, her struggles, her resilience, and her transformation into a fierce warrior. By blending traditional Yoruba performance aesthetics with experimental film techniques, Oríkì Oshun creates a polyrhythmic and immersive space where sound, image, and movement converge to honor the sacred. This project is not just a celebration of Oshun but a meditation on the power of storytelling to expand our understanding of divine multiplicity, human imperfection, and sacred possibility.
Experimental Short
Oríkì Oshun is part of a larger film quartet honoring Yoruba Orishas through ritual-based experimental films. This work emerges from deep personal spiritual practice and community ties, aiming to destigmatize Indigenous African religions and offer cultural resources for Black and Indigenous audiences. Our crew includes scholars, ritualists, and artists who collaborate with deep respect for the traditions represented.
The impact campaign for Oríkì Oshun is rooted in Yoruba ritual, Black feminist spiritual practice, and community-centered exhibition. The goal is to activate the film as a living ritual, not just a viewing experience, by creating events that include praise poetry, drumming, dance, and conversations around healing, ancestral remembrance, and spiritual care