Nikki Giovanni Immersive Experience

Combining Nikki Giovanni’s poetry (as recorded by Giovanni at different times in her life) with audio soundscapes and motion-graphics projections, this interdisciplinary collaboration among a composer, designers, literary experts, embodied performance artists, and creative technologists creates a multi-sensory experience. Each 3-walled projection aims to capture the essence of Giovanni's poetry, drawing inspiration from its themes, imagery, and rhythmic cadence. Additionally, we used the library's motion capture studios to collaborate with faculty from the School of Performing Arts in developing visual avatars that appear in the final motion graphics. Attendees had the opportunity to engage with the art on a deeper level, allowing themselves to be enveloped by the interplay of sight and sound, word, and image.

On June 8, 2025, in conjunction with the Black Love Is Black Wealth memorial event in Giovanni’s honor, we held our beta launch of the project at the Cube at Virginia Tech, during which we installed Ego Tripping and Nikki-Rosa.

We exhibited an expanded version (with six poems) on December 9, 2025, which marked the 1-year anniversary of Giovanni's death. And in the spring of 2026, we had a secondary location for a multi-month installation at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. This exhibition space drew thousands of visitors throughout the installation.

All exhibitions were free and open to the public.

For the first phase of the project, I served as Project Manager, developed the motion graphics for Ego Tripping, and created the opening of Nikki-Rosa and assisted with the animations. Charles Nichols created the music. Trevor Finney did the motion capture and renderings and helped in the development of visuals. Brittney Harris created the embodied movement work and created audio montages of Nikki Giovanni recording her poetry over the years. Gena Chandler helped in the selection and interpretation of poems. Student, Demetrya Dye, developed the visual materials and early animations for Nikki-Rosa and regularly met with the creative team.

And special thanks to Nikki Giovanni and Virginia (Ginney) Fowler for granting us permission to do this project. We will be forever grateful for this opportunity to explore Giovanni’s work in this immersive way.

Ego Tripping
(there may be a reason why)

by Nikki Giovanni

I was born in the congo
I walked to the fertile crescent and built
    the sphinx
I designed a pyramid so tough that a star
    that only glows every one hundred years falls
    into the center giving divine perfect light
I am bad

I sat on the throne
    drinking nectar with allah
I got hot and sent an ice age to europe
    to cool my thirst
My oldest daughter is nefertiti
    the tears from my birth pains
    created the nile
I am a beautiful woman

I gazed on the forest and burned
    out the sahara desert
    with a packet of goat’s meat
    and a change of clothes
I crossed it in two hours
I am a gazelle so swift
    so swift you can’t catch me

For a birthday present when he was three
I gave my son hannibal an elephant
He gave me rome for mother’s day
My strength flows ever on

My son noah built new/ark and
I stood proudly at the helm
    as we sailed on a soft summer day
I turned myself into myself and was
    jesus
    men intone my loving name
    All praises All praises
I am the one who would save

I sowed diamonds in my back yard
My bowels deliver uranium
    the filings from my fingernails are
    semi-precious jewels
    On a trip north
I caught a cold and blew
My nose giving oil to the arab world
I am so hip even my errors are correct
I sailed west to reach east and had to round off
    the earth as I went
    The hair from my head thinned and gold was laid
    across three continents

I am so perfect so divine so ethereal so surreal
I cannot be comprehended
except by my permission

I mean . . . I . . . can fly
like a bird in the sky . . .

Nikki-Rosa

by Nikki Giovanni

childhood remembrances are always a drag

if you’re Black

you always remember things like living in Woodlawn

with no inside toilet

and if you become famous or something

they never talk about how happy you were to have

your mother

all to yourself and

how good the water felt when you got your bath

from one of those

big tubs that folk in chicago barbecue in

and somehow when you talk about home

it never gets across how much you

understood their feelings

as the whole family attended meetings about Hollydale

and even though you remember

your biographers never understand

your father’s pain as he sells his stock

and another dream goes

And though you’re poor it isn’t poverty that

concerns you

and though they fought a lot

it isn’t your father’s drinking that makes any difference

but only that everybody is together and you

and your sister have happy birthdays and very good

Christmases

and I really hope no white person ever has cause

to write about me

because they never understand

Black love is Black wealth and they’ll

probably talk about my hard childhood

and never understand that

all the while I was quite happy

The Blues (excerpt)

by Nikki Giovanni

Some folks think the blues

Is a song or a way

Of singing

But the blues is

History

A way of telling how

We got here

And who sent us

The blues may talk about

My man

Or my woman

Who left me

Or took my money

And is gone

But what they mean

Is I was stolen

In an African war

And ignorantly sold

Quilts

by Nikki Giovanni

Like a fading piece of cloth
I am a failure

No longer do I cover tables filled with food and laughter
My seams are frayed my hems falling my strength no longer able
To hold the hot and cold

I wish for those first days
When just woven I could keep water
From seeping through
Repelled stains with the tightness of my weave
Dazzled the sunlight with my
Reflection

I grow old though pleased with my memories
The tasks I can no longer complete
Are balanced by the love of the tasks gone past

I offer no apology only
this plea:

When I am frayed and strained and drizzle at the end
Please someone cut a square and put me in a quilt
That I might keep some child warm

And some old person with no one else to talk to
Will hear my whispers

And cuddle
near

Poetry and Readings: Nikki Giovanni

Poetic Arrangement: Brittney S. Harris and Charles Nichols

Music: Charles Nichols

Embodied Movement: Brittney S. Harris

Motion Capture: Trevor Finney and Alice Macanga

Motion Graphics and Graphic Design: Meaghan Dee, Trevor Finney, Demetrya Dye, and Lexy Altieri

Project Advisor: Gena E. Chandler, PhD

Project Management: Meaghan Dee

ICAT Technical Support: Gustavo Araoz, David Franusich, Brandon Hale, and Tanner Upthegrove

Additional Thanks to Kelsey Hammer, Ella Shaffer, and Morgan Weidling for participating in creative brainstorming sessions.

Special thanks to Virginia Fowler for permission, time, and poetry consultation.

Additional thanks to Virginia Tech, President Sands, the Institute for Creativity, Arts, and Technology (ICAT), the University Libraries at Virginia Tech, and the Center for the Arts for supporting this project.