I am a documentary and experimental media artist and associate professor in media production at Buffalo State University. In addition to media, my socially engaged art practice occasionally includes performance, masks, dollhouses, social gatherings, and other activities that bring people together. I believe in art as a catalyst for positive social change and use video as an intimate language to explore the world around me. My award-winning work has been exhibited in the US, Europe, Africa, and Asia; and has been supported by organizations such as the New York State Council of the Arts, the German Federal Foreign Office, and the Fulbright program. In my creative practice, I am often drawn to playfully address serious issues through collaborative media making. In my documentaries, I like to elevate individuals whose lives and accomplishments, though usually underreported by mainstream media, contribute to a more just and equitable society, preferring to make films not only about, but with people. I am inspired by my family and pets, my students at Buffalo State University, my friends, activists, small grassroots arts organizations, climate justice initiatives, going for walks, and polyphonic novels and documentaries.

The name of my website, Ragpicker Woman, is inspired by Walter Benjamin’s Ragpicker of History, a figure who collects what others have thrown away, transforming it into something valuable by making it seen. This concept has inspired my filmmaking ever since I first picked up a camera.

Contact me at dorothea [at] termite [dot] org.