The Groundwater Project is a community-based filmmaking initiative that centers the lives of Black residents in Lorain County, Ohio.
Created by StoryLens Pictures, The Groundwater Project will come together as a feature-length documentary film.
As part of The Groundwater Project, StoryLens is collaborating with local efforts to research and gather oral histories and historical artifacts from and about the Lorain County Black community in order to establish The Groundwater Archive, a publicly accessible online historical database.
The “Groundwater” Metaphor
Suppose one encounters a single, dead fish floating belly-up in a lake. One might wonder what, about this particular fish itself, might have caused its death. Suppose one then comes across a different lake, where half the fish are dead. One now must consider what is wrong with the lake. Suppose, finally, that one finds that in each of the lakes in the area, half the fish are dead. One must look beyond the individual lakes to examine the groundwater that, though imperceptible beneath the earth’s surface, feeds all the lakes and affects all the fish. This metaphor illustrates the systemic depth and reach of racial inequity in the United States.
— Paraphrase of Bayard Love and Deena Hayes-Greene’s “Groundwater” metaphor from the Racial Equity Institute. To illustrate the structural depth and reach of racial inequity in the United States.
Faces of Groundwater
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Jeanine Donaldson
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Randy Smith
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Barbara Cook
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A.G. Miller
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Sharon Land
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Shirley Brown-Reeder
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Mark Ballard II
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Sybil Roseboro
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Parris Smith
