THEESatisfaction goes deep on this one—a clip for their bewitching new single “Recognition” off their upcoming LP EarthEE. The duo visit the homes of John Coltrane, Sun-Ra and Marian Anderson to pay homage, and conclude the piece with an appearance from Xenobia Bailey, the legendary Seattle textile artist whose hypnotic crochet mandala plays Magic Eye style tricks on you as the video comes to a close. A little insight from director Tiona McClodden, whose full explanation on the clip can be read here:

For the core theme, I wanted to explore duality through the visual form known as a “diptych”; consisting of two individual images, intended to be presented close together as a complementary pair. When taken together, they illuminate each other and comprise a distinct work of art from their individual parts. I see both the members of THEESatisfaction as being a real life diptych in the ways that they relate to each other musically and specifically with this music single.There are over 20 Black artists featured throughout the “Recognition” video. I wanted to create a series of moving portraits of the artists by presenting them with a certain timeless grace much like Ancient Egyptian sunken relief sculptures. I wanted these artists to appear monolithic and reverent. I also wanted a visual work that would age very well, and eventually provide a unique view of some of the artists who were significant of this current time.I drew inspiration from a range of sources. Visual inspiration was drawn from Lorraine O’Grady, Carl Van Vechten, Barkley Hendricks, David Hammons, Lynette Yiadom Boakye, Marco Cravo Neto, Whitfield Lovell, as well as the The Mundane Afrofuturist Manifesto by Martyne Syms. Historically, we all wanted to pay tribute to Langston Hughes, Marian Anderson, Labelle, Sun Ra, John Coltrane, The Stylistics, Phyllis Hyman, and members of THEESatisfaction’s family.By choosing to film within Sun Ra’s home- which happened completely by chance-I wanted to show the current state of his house “as is”. Nothing was reorganized, and nothing was dusted off. Positioning the magical crystal orb (from Sa Ra’s movie “Space is the Place”) in Farid Barron’s hand was a gesture to show the passing of the legacy of Sun Ra (as Barron sits in Ra’s pianist chair as a member of Sun Ra’s Arkestra). In paying tribute to Marian Anderson, I chose to position Jillian Pirtle, who is a Marian Anderson Scholar, in Marian’s chair underneath the last photo that was taken of her before she passed away. While both of these were simple gestures, I want to visualize the feeling of coexistence amongst legendary historical figures.