NADIA NAOMI MBONDE

In An Astrological Diagnosis, the filmmaker Nadia Mbonde embarks on a journey through the stars to make meaning of the psychosis she experienced during pregnancy. Providing an alternative perspective to the medical model, the narrative unfolds as Nadia converses with an astrologer while visually and sonically representing her otherworldly mental states through dance, self-portraiture, and etheric elements. Finally, the audience witnesses Nadia's process of integration through acts of mothering and self-care. The film's performative and experimental approach serves unsettle the notion that the camera or a psychiatric diagnosis can capture the expansive terrain of Black maternal madness.

Nadia Naomi Mbonde is a Black mother, scholar, multimedia artist, and mental health doula in Brooklyn, New York. A doctoral student in Medical and Sociocultural Anthropology at New York University, Nadia’s research addresses how perinatal mental health disparities contribute to the ongoing Black maternal mortality and morbidity crisis in the United States. She has trained as a birth and postpartum doula and a mental health peer specialist. As a multimedia artist, Nadia translates her research and lived experience through dance, film, photography, and digital art. Through her art, activism, and scholarship, Nadia seeks to integrate Mad liberation and reproductive justice for birthing people and their families to thrive.