Precious Okoyomon’s “It’s Dissociating Season” (2019) is a single-channel video artwork lasting approximately four minutes. The piece features an animated bear floating through a forest setting while holding a blunt, accompanied by a voiceover narrated by the artist’s brother. The narration describes a personal near-fatal encounter with police. The video is frequently presented on a pink Disney-branded television, creating a deliberate contrast between playful, childlike aesthetics and more serious subject matter.

The work is based on Okoyomon’s 2017 poem of the same title. The poem employs stream-of-consciousness language to address themes of dissociation, trauma, substance use, identity, queer experience, and racial violence. It incorporates references to societal perceptions of Black bodies and personal coping mechanisms.In the artwork, Okoyomon explores the psychological effects of racism and state violence, alongside the vulnerability of the Black body in contemporary America. The use of an animated bear as a central figure juxtaposes innocence and cuteness with underlying tension and threat. The piece examines emotional detachment as a response to personal and collective experiences of harm, while blending surreal imagery with everyday elements. Overall, “It’s Dissociating Season” combines poetic and visual elements to reflect on survival, dissociation, and the intersection of personal memory with broader social realities.

Precious Okoyomon: It’s Dissociating Season (2019) / What a Wonderful World. Julia Stoschek Foundation in Los Angeles, Variety Arts Theater, Los Angeles, February 18, 2026.