In The Ritual, a film produced by artists Mahogany L. Browne and Cecil McDonald, Jr., Browne stares directly into the camera as she ties a series of head wraps around her hair. In this intimate moment – one Browne performs as a daily ritual, her head wraps the armor she wears to face the day – she recites a poem like a mantra. One particularly potent line reads: “Whoever told you you wasn’t fly/ whoever told you you wasn’t strong/whoever told you you wasn’t brilliant/ whoever told you you wasn’t beautiful/ is a lie.”