Bio

Photo by River Bourne

Artist Statement

My creative work is process-oriented and often participatory, reveling in the intersections of ancestors, interspecies relationships, justice, queerness and spirituality. Much of my artistic practice centers around ancestral connection, cultural reclamation and preservation. I am dedicated to sharing the wisdom and the medicine of my Jewish ancestors through adaptive, accessible, and liberatory means. As a multimedia storyteller I work with film, performance, somatics, music, installation, visual art, events and curricula to invite others into a world of expanded possibility and rewoven connection. Queer/trans* Jewish artist community is my deepest home, and I frequently collaborate with others on music, zines, ritual and more.

Since 2021 I have focused largely on producing immersive cultural experiences through my work as Director of Jewish Arts & Culture at the Minnesota JCC. I produce and direct the Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival and Twin Cities Jewish Humor Fest, and created a new Jewish communal music series called Bo’u Nashir.

In 2015, Riv founded Sacred Witness Media, a film production company specializing in storytelling for changemakers. Riv’s recent projects include “// held //” - a film meditation on wrapping tefillin in a pandemic, Yiddish lullabies for an era of climate chaos, and “fragments: multi-media ancestral storytelling”.