Sum of All Parts

3021 Rowena Ave, Los Angeles — 2024
New Museum, New York — 2024

Sum of All Parts began as a live performance in Los Angeles, created in collaboration with Lucette Romy. Emerging as a prayer from spirit, the work blended spoken word, movement, and ritual to embody survival, resilience, and transformation. Rucker’s performance explored the paradoxes of pain and resurrection, the embodied histories of Blackness, and the ongoing struggle against systems of oppression.

The project later expanded into film through the New Museum’s NEW INC program. Directed by Nigel Ho Sang, the 16mm short Utopian Realities – Sum of All Parts traced how emotions—fear, grief, pain, joy, and anger—become trapped in the body. Extending Rucker’s practice into moving image and immersive space, the film channels release through movement, voice, and spirit.