A Conversation with Dzana Ashworth ’10

Alexandra “Dzana” Ashworth ’10 is an artist, filmmaker, and writer interested in exploring community, belonging, and identity. After graduating from OES in 2010, they attended Sarah Lawrence College, and later worked in NYC in media production, making a jump to documentary film during the pandemic. In 2022, they were named one of five Fulbright-National Geographic Storytelling Fellows, and departed for the Philippines to research and direct a collection of documentary films in their country of origin. 

The short documentary For the Shoulders, Not for the Hands centers around healing and knowledge practices shared by Itawit elders in Cagayan Valley, Philippines. Ashworth is working alongside local researchers, community leaders, and filmmakers to complete the film. Ashworth’s experimental, autobiographical project On The Day I Was Born reflects on adoption, homecoming, and healing through home video, collage and poetry. 

What inspired your area of study?
I’d been formulating a lot of thoughts around the impacts and motivations of migration and displacement, and the motivations for people ending up in diaspora, or the impacts that create environments where people end up in diaspora or even family separation.

I grew up in a Jewish-American family, and the term diaspora was used in reference to Jewish people, in reference to both Babylonian exile and Spanish expulsion. But I am interested in it as a broader term, and in studying it in relation to Asian people, and the Filipino diaspora.

I was adopted as an infant from an immigrant Filipina mother by a Jewish-American couple, and I’ve always been curious to learn more about the Philippines. 

The Philippines was colonized by the Spanish for several hundred years. I’m looking at how their traditions balance with Catholic belief systems, even though there might be a contradiction, and what exactly the elders want to pass on.

What kind of feelings has this trip brought up for you?
I’m conscious of my sense of Western privilege, coming to the Philippines with this academic scholarship. There are a lot of complex emotions and realities about how that became my reality.

I’ve also realized I want to more deeply explore the concept of homecoming and create a film about that. I originally thought that On the Day I Was Born was going to be about my visit to the Philippines, but now I’m also going to film when I come back to the United States. It will be a visual essay, with a combination of collage and archival footage that my parents filmed of me in the nineties mixed with footage I’m filming now. I’m going to reflect on it once I’ve finished filming it. I’m also planning to experiment with some new editing and animation techniques.

What are some reflections you’ve had as a result of your research?
People who have been displaced are often told they are resilient. When I think about resilience—people being told how inspirational and brave they are—I think, wouldn’t it be wonderful to just move with ease and not have to feel that intensity? And to go through the pain that often warrants being called resilient? Reflecting on both holding pride of resilience, but also wishing for more gentleness and ease in my communities and for me personally. I’m hoping my films will bring up this question for audiences, too.

What kind of advice would you offer to students at OES today?
Since we graduated 13 years ago, we’ve changed so much. Our lives have changed, our circumstances have changed, we’re not the exact same people we were as teenagers of course, but I think we’ve been open to and flexible with those changes within each other, and we’ve been really excited and willing to learn about each other.

I would like to offer that we approach everyone in that way: being genuinely curious about everyone that we meet, and being open and willing to have conversations with and learn about each other and the experiences that we’ve had.

This isn’t to say let harmful people or attitudes in; it’s about striving to find that kind of ease I was speaking about before, so that we too can avoid or take accountability for causing harm. Throughout my life people have put projections on me and their perceptions of my experiences and identities, so I suggest trying not to put too many projections on a person—especially if you have the opportunity to do something like what I’m doing now. When you have the energy and time, really make space for the environment that you’re in, the culture that you’re in, the relationships that you’re approaching and recognize how lucky we are to get to share our lives and know each other.