Jeriel Johnson
Student, Filmmaker, and Photographer in Nashville, Tennessee
I am a freelance photographer and videographer specializing in event coverage, personal branding, and studio portraiture.
I am journeying to become a cinematographer, a music video director, and a cultural tastemaker.
Artist Statement:
Viewed through the lens of Blackness, my works possess the triptych functions of exposure through historic citation, cathartic expression, and on-screen representation.
At the forefront is my love for hip-hop and its cosmopolitan sensibilities of sampling what has come before. Sampling, or better described as artistic citation, takes pieces of disparate genres, famed images, or lost literary passages and presents refurbished versions to new audiences. Whether through scene recreation, soundtrack selection, or filmic techniques, citation allows me to keep ideas, creative visions, and social movements alive through the medium of film.
My use of citation conveys my current interests and what I have absorbed or rejected from my studies. It becomes both a jumping point and a safety net for my self-expression, as it is easier to push further the familiar than to create anew. As a Black man, I see importance in the spreading of counterculture, the implementation of innovation, and the release of the entrenched emotions of our experience. This is humanizing, empowering, and provides and opportunity to heal, connect, and grow, as others interact with my films.
Lastly, I am big on representation -- seeing the faces or works of people of color on screen. One of my favorite genres is biographical drama because it provides a platform for the telling and/or reclaiming of history along with creating a more accessible documentation. Through film, I am able to control what's experienced in the frame from the scenery to the actors, embedding cultural references or selecting the voices used to tell stories.
Herein lies my artistic motivation and personal essence of Blackness: it is a sense of unity across time and place, the strength and freedom to be true to ourselves, and the audacity to be curators of culture.