Virginia Film Festival

Chewing gum sculptures, a wealthy gallerist, a notorious murder case, and the segregated South all played a part in the extraordinary life of artist Nellie Mae Rowe. From her childhood, Rowe created art with whatever materials she could find. As an adult, she transformed her home into a vibrant oasis filled with her eccentric artwork and was discovered and celebrated by the art world only six years before her death.

This World is Not My Own explores the remarkable life of this late-in-life artistic success story, delving into the personal and political events that influenced her art collection as well as her significant impact on contemporary Black culture. Directors Petter Ringbom and Marquise Stillwell employ a mix of traditional documentary methods, animations voiced by Uzo Aduba, and scripted reenactments to bring Rowe’s dynamic story to the screen.

“An unorthodox approach to biography, less concerned with chronology than with synchronicity, tangled lines of Southern connection and revelatory degrees of separation.”
–The Hollywood Reporter, Sheri Linden

Introduction by Tobiah Mundt (Charlottesville Black Art Collective).