JAMARTIS
Jamartis is an annual 1O week summer school focussing on film, sound and photography in a fine art context. Each year, young artists from Downtown Kingston and the surrounding inner city areas are joined at their base in Studio 174 by a number of students from CARIMAC at University of the West Indies in a period of intense creativity and practical, collaborative learning.
At JAMARTIS, the streets themselves oftentake the place of the classroom, with participants drawing their inspiration from the untold and under represented narratives in their own community.
Participants' work takes a wide variety of forms; from traditional documentary and experimental shorts, through radio journalism and multi layered soundscapes to photojournalism and fine art photography. However varied the media and styles across the pieces though, works are held togther by their deep roots in the community. They are works of art created in full collaboration with their subjects, giving a voice to the neighbourhoods so often misrepresented in the national and international media.
Work is presented to local residents at lease once a week, through an outdoor radio broadcast on West Street while the films and photography are projected from the open doors of the studio onto a wall across the street the size of a cinema screen.
Residents of the area, along with the subjects of the films, are invited to join JAMARTIS participants on the weekly radio show, to offer perspectives on the work of the studio, to raise issues from their community and the wider world or as a platform for their own performance.
The latest slate of films to be produced by participants have played at film festivals across Jamaica including GatFest in Kingston and Cinema Paradise in Portland before receiving an international premiere at the Tate Gallery in London and an invitation to screen at Leeds University's World Cinema Foundation.
In addition to high level practical and theoretical workshops in professional creative practices with industry standard cameras, editing systems and recording equipment, participants also benefit from the expertise of a range of visiting international artists and experts present throughout the JAMARTIS programme.
For more information or to apply for a place on JAMARTIS 2O16 email Studio 174 director Rozi Chung
