Beyoncé Filmed Acclaimed Visual Album on East End

“Black Is King,” Beyoncé’s latest visual album, displays in artistic and musical mastery Black power and scenes of pan-African pride and reverence — and some of these scenes were filmed on the East End.

The Queen Bey shot segments of the visual album at East Hampton’s Guild Hall and Shelter Island’s Sylvester Manor Educational Farm — a former slave plantation — in August 2019. The visual album, an accompaniment to Disney’s 2019 Lion King remake, was released on Disney+ this summer.

At Guild Hall, an exhibit by Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone, titled Sunny Days, served as the set — the large distressed gold rings served both visual and symbolic purpose: Mr. Rondinone described them as representing a form of life’s circle, Andrea Grover, the museum’s executive director said.

“Beyoncé, JAY-Z and [Blue Ivy] had visited Ugo’s public art installation in the Nevada desert earlier that year,” Ms. Grover said. “It’s a very renowned long-term installation that was produced by the Art Production Fund and the Nevada Museum of Art, so they were aware of Ugo’s work”

In the visual album, Guild Hall’s exhibit is shown in the song Already. That song’s video segment was also released as a separate music video available on YouTube.

Beyoncé’s location manager, Holly Li, contacted Ms. Grover about a potential filming at Guild Hall on August 18. The team wanted to see the site that day, Ms. Grover said — she wasn’t told it was for a Beyoncé project until after meeting the team.

“They were really inspecting Guild Hall, and they had questions about the electricity, power sources, the lights, all of that,” Ms. Grover said. By that Wednesday, the team, including Beyoncé and dancers, were onsite filming.

And yet amid the buzz and commotion of a typical East Hampton August day, Beyoncé’s presence remained under wraps — not even the 700 children and parents attending Magic Shows at Guild Hall that Wednesday knew an international star was in the other room filming.

Ms. Grover described the moment Beyoncé first entered the museum’s gallery for the hour-and-a-half shoot as “powerful.”

“You could see the level of her artistry and talent,” she said, equally in awe watching Beyoncé perform: “She knows exactly how to engage the camera.”

As the crew was wrapping up, Ms. Grover said she gave a gift, a scarf designed by local artist Steve Miller, to one of Beyoncé’s assistants with the intention of introducing her to a new artist.

Ms. Grover explained how Beyoncé and JAY-Z are collectors of contemporary art. At her count, they represented between six and 12 artists in the visual album.

“They make a point of engaging living artists in their work,” Ms. Grover said.

The lush woodlands and waterways at Sylvester Manor Educational Farm on Shelter Island were also used as filming locations for the visual album. The property, built by enslaved Africans, is a former sugar plantation and relied on enslaved Africans and indentured Native Americans for labor, according to its website.

In a statement released by the manor amid a national reckoning on racial injustice this summer, officials acknowledged the property’s racist history: “The historic record of Sylvester Manor reflects a predominately white, privileged culture.”

“Our organization has been working hard to uncover as much as we can about the people who built Sylvester Manor, and to tell their stories,” the statement continued.

Donnamarie Barnes, the manor’s curator and archivist, believes Beyoncé’s use of the property came with a reflection on the property’s history and modern-day repurposing.

“Beyoncé and her dancers performing on the land of the Manor paid tribute to the ancestors of Sylvester Manor, invoking their spirits and celebrating their heritage,” Ms. Barnes said in a press release.

Similar to Guild Hall, the manor’s property was used in the video segments for the song Already. A representative for the manor said in a phone call that it was also featured in other portions of the film, but declined to comment further.

After release, Black is King was met with critical acclaim. In an Instagram post announcing the project’s release, Beyoncé stressed the connection the visual album had to this year.

“The events of 2020 have made the film’s vision and message even more relevant, as people across the world embark on a historic journey,” Beyoncé wrote. “I wanted to present elements of Black history and African tradition, with a modern twist and a universal message.

“I pray that everyone sees the beauty and resilience of our people,” she wrote.