A native of New Orleans, Louisiana, Barbara McCullough spent most of her life in the Los Angeles area. Before documentaries, experimental film and video were her first love, as she strove to “tap the spirit and richness of her community by exposing its magic, touching its textures and trampling old stereotypes while revealing the untold stories reflective of African American life.” Her film and video projects include: Water Ritual #1: An Urban Rite of Purification, winner of the 2010 Avant-Garde Masters Award from National Film Preservation Foundation, Andy Warhol Foundation and The Film Foundation USA; Shopping Bag Spirits and Freeway Fetishes: Reflection on Ritual Space; Fragments; and The World Saxophone Quartet. Her recently completed film project, HORACE TAPSCOTT: MUSICAL GRIOT, is a documentary on musical genius, community activist and mentor to a generation of accomplished jazz musicians, Horace Tapscott. It was awarded the Best Feature Documentary Award at the 2017 Pan African Film Festival. Her works are screened in museums and galleries nationally and internationally. A twenty-five year veteran of the visual effects industry, before returning to the Los Angeles area Ms. McCullough was professor and chair of the Visual Effects Department at Savannah College of Art and Design – SCAD. Ms. McCullough received a B.A. in Communications Studies and an M.F.A. in Film and Television from UCLA.