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Interview 075 with Jahmani Perry
Listen to filmmaker, photographer, and writer Jahmani Perry of Brooklyn, New York—whose parents are from Jamaica, West Indies—share about living and working during the Covid-19 pandemic. He identifies as Black and Caribbean American. In early 2020 Jahmani was living on Long Island. When the coronavirus began spreading in March of 2020, he shared: “I was looking for a new place…to move into the city and…and then I was like, wait a second, ‘What's going on here?’ You know? They kept talking about shutting down the city…It was very disorienting, you know?”
On photographing New York City during the pandemic:
“I did take photographs. Yeah. Yeah. In the beginning it was like, ‘I gotta document this…as much as I can… This whole series project that I'm working on is about New York for the last...people about New York for the last 30 years. So…of course I have to document what I see, what I experience, you know? …That was surreal… There's a part of me that said, ‘Oh my God you gotta be careful. I was going on subways. I was going everywhere. I did go to many different places to try to document and to photograph as much as I can and to not be afraid.”
On including photographs of New York City during the pandemic in his upcoming exhibition, Asphalt Spirits NYC Part II: 1999-2022:
“…That would be part of the show yes. Yes…things that happened during the Black Lives Matter movement…It was amazing… At first, I was like, ‘Should I go out with all these people?’ Then I put on my mask… I had to be there… I went to a number of demonstrations… My photographs are about people…whether it’s Black Lives Matter, whether it’s a protest, or everyday life… I’ve been photographing since 1976. I’m very much about being in people’s faces…But, you know, my work is about, you know, seeing people with the fullness of who each each human being is and, and, you know, intimate way and, and, and, how do we begin just, you know, to see each other, you know, beyond the biases that, you know, can creep into our thought process, and even brain and see each other as, you know, as really fellow human beings.”
On meeting Gordon Parks:
“…I had met Gordon Parks and Gordon Parks actually saw my work. When I was in college a professor of mine knew him very well. She and Gordon were good friends. And she brought me to his house and we spent an afternoon with him and me showing him my work and him talking to me about my work and giving me advice and encouragement.”
Jahmani Perry is continuing Gordon Parks’ legacy of photographing New York.
Check out Jahmani’s photographs on his website: https://www.jahmaniperry.com
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By Sonja J Killebrew
Listen to filmmaker, photographer, and writer Jahmani Perry of Brooklyn, New York—whose parents are from Jamaica, West Indies—share about living and working during the Covid-19 pandemic. He identifies as Black and Caribbean American. In early 2020 Jahmani was living on Long Island. When the coronavirus began spreading in March of 2020, he shared: “I was looking for a new place…to move into the city and…and then I was like, wait a second, ‘What's going on here?’ You know? They kept talking about shutting down the city…It was very disorienting, you know?”
On photographing New York City during the pandemic:
“I did take photographs. Yeah. Yeah. In the beginning it was like, ‘I gotta document this…as much as I can… This whole series project that I'm working on is about New York for the last...people about New York for the last 30 years. So…of course I have to document what I see, what I experience, you know? …That was surreal… There's a part of me that said, ‘Oh my God you gotta be careful. I was going on subways. I was going everywhere. I did go to many different places to try to document and to photograph as much as I can and to not be afraid.”
On including photographs of New York City during the pandemic in his upcoming exhibition, Asphalt Spirits NYC Part II: 1999-2022:
“…That would be part of the show yes. Yes…things that happened during the Black Lives Matter movement…It was amazing… At first, I was like, ‘Should I go out with all these people?’ Then I put on my mask… I had to be there… I went to a number of demonstrations… My photographs are about people…whether it’s Black Lives Matter, whether it’s a protest, or everyday life… I’ve been photographing since 1976. I’m very much about being in people’s faces…But, you know, my work is about, you know, seeing people with the fullness of who each each human being is and, and, you know, intimate way and, and, and, how do we begin just, you know, to see each other, you know, beyond the biases that, you know, can creep into our thought process, and even brain and see each other as, you know, as really fellow human beings.”
On meeting Gordon Parks:
“…I had met Gordon Parks and Gordon Parks actually saw my work. When I was in college a professor of mine knew him very well. She and Gordon were good friends. And she brought me to his house and we spent an afternoon with him and me showing him my work and him talking to me about my work and giving me advice and encouragement.”
Jahmani Perry is continuing Gordon Parks’ legacy of photographing New York.
Check out Jahmani’s photographs on his website: https://www.jahmaniperry.com