jamaica_all in awe.avi

A film directed, edited, and sound designed by me :)

jamaica_all in awe.avi explores my complex emotions and nuanced experiences as a temporary visitor in Kingston, Jamaica. This short film dives into the beauty of blurry knowledge formations and fleeting memories in action, expanding my understanding of diaspora. I used Little Clarkie's 1986 track, Selector Him Good + Dub, and Colonel Mite's 1986 mix, Bless The Selector, to queer the sound design by leaning into more of its electronic potential to intermingle with their vocal presence.

Graphic Design for Film Screening Flyer

Art Direction, Photography, Editing, Custom Typography, Lettering, Illustration

stills from jamaica_all in awe.avi, which won First Prize at the 2024 Poetry Into Film Festival and was screened at the 30th Black Harvest Film Festival in Chicago for PRESENTation: an_evening_w/_osadolor.

The special moments of mundanity, silence, distant conversations, music blasting, and bikes zooming past me made me feel grounded. I felt glimpses of what makes Jamaica special: its unique vibrancy. My more profound understanding and newfound perspective of what diaspora means, especially in Jamaica, was molded through the various conversations I had and the fantastic sections of the conference that beautifully showcased the already felt connections between the arts, society, culture, and diaspora shaping a sense of self, community, identity, as well as nationality. I also found myself very intrigued by the Jamaican Quotidian, the everyday landscapes, and the mix-match fashion that reminds me of what I see in Nigeria. The colors feel so powerful, yet not necessarily bright, in their boldness, even in their fade and dullness, which I find so much inspiration in.

Like memories, constructions, and remembrance are not fixed but shaped and molded as we move through time. They become blurry, fleeting, yet ever-presence and looming, and your mind and imagination. I aimed to represent this complex remembrance of my time in Jamaica through an audiovisual experimental Lo-Fi and D-I-Y short film. I showcase Jamaica as what it is to me now: a distant memory abstracting into fleeting parts, moving images, sounds, and roaming thoughts that further complexify my image of Jamaica beyond the scopes of Western media's oppressive hold. This project allows my curiosity to roam and expand visually and sonically.