Documentary highlights Lewis Honors College custodian and her philosophy on cleaning, life
LEXINGTON, Ky. (March 25, 2026) — “The Keeping Space,” a 15-minute documentary that shines a light on the often-unseen work by University of Kentucky custodian Shelia Lackey, will be featured 6 p.m. Thursday, April 2, at Lexington’s Lyric Theatre & Cultural Arts Center. Documentary co-directors Jena Seiler, Ph.D., Lewis Honors College lecturer, and Nicole Martin, former honors college director of academic affairs, will be at the screening and participating in the discussion.
The screening is sponsored by the Gaines Center for the Humanities.
Seiler described the film as a celebration of “the often-invisible labor and rhythm of cleaning by focusing on the work Lackey does every day in the Honors College and her perspective on cleaning and life.”
The project started near the end of 2023 when Seiler, who was interested in the work it takes to maintain a space and the idea of certain roles being visible versus invisible, approached Lackey to document her daily routine in the garden level of Donovan Hall.
“Cleaning is an essential human activity that is marginalized,” Seiler said. Through the documentary, Seiler created a “testament to the work that is valuable and that matters.”
As someone who spent more than 14 years in the cleaning business, following in the footsteps of her great-grandmother, mom, brother and stepfather, Lackey said that cleaning is in her genes.
“Anything that you do in life, you have to clean. You’re housekeeping,” she said. “Whether someone is working in an office, staying in a hotel, dining in a restaurant or living in a dorm at college, housekeeping is something that everyone does to a certain level.”
Martin said she hopes viewers learn more about Lackey.
“I think she is so special and I have such sweet memories of her in the space during the early hours at Lewis Hall before folks arrived,” Martin said. “I want people to recognize the way the camera catches and appreciates the daily movements that Shelia embodies — maybe ritualizes — in how she cares for the space.”
“There’s a rhythm to Shelia’s work,” Seiler added, which inspired her to use music by Louisville’s River City Drum Corps in the film.
“The Keeping Space” has been accepted to two festivals — Single Channel’s fifth annual Video Festival and the 18th International Moving Film Festival. For the latter, which was hosted in Mexico, Seiler worked with honors freshman Angela Angulo-Rugerio to translate the film for a Spanish-speaking audience.
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