A VOICE AND ITS THOUSAND WORDS: Michael Thompson

Around Facebook and Flickr Michael Thompson's designs, images, politics by beauty drifted into my consciousness. Again the connection emerged with design and beauty being used for political expression. Is this this a new route? Will design effectively replace the political voice of Painting in Jamaica? Is the accessability of Design replacing the often high-browness of Fine Art? I asked Michael a few questions and he gave me his thoughts.

Can you give me some insight into your background as a designer/artist and relationship to Jamaica.

I am a Jamaican living in the United States. I attended Calabar High School in Kingston, Jamaica and graduated in 1976. After leaving Calabar I studied commercial art at the Jamaica School of Art as a part time student. My first design job was an apprentice position at the Daily News art department. Shortly after, I joined Paisley, Kelly Keynon & Eckhardt Advertising Agency(PKK&E) as a layout artist and illustrator. After a long stint at PKK&E I took up an offer as Art Director, at Mike Jarrett Communications, a public relations firm. It was my last gig in Jamaica before I migrated to the United States in 1989. In 1978 I designed a poster that got me a place on the Jamaican delegation to the 11th World Festival of Youth and Students in Havana Cuba. This was an amazing cultural experience that has influenced my design aesthetics. I was very inspired by the beauty and power of the poster arts produced by the Cuban agencies of ICAIC (the Cuban Institute of Cinematic Art and Industry) Editoria Political, and OSPAAL (the Organization in Solidarity with the People of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.) The artistic energy from that festival in Cuba and the international art that I was exposed to still influence my creativity today. The International festival definitely opened a lot of doors both internationally and locally once I return to Jamaica. I had my first major art show in Jamaica which included paintings, poster art and drawings. This exhibition was a two artist show held at the Bank of Jamaica with myself and Clinton Hutton a fellow progressive artist at the time, this was around 1979.

Looking at your portfolio I am seeing at least two approaches to design emerging. One seems more meant for traditional commercial work where the designer could be anyone from anywhere. In the other kind I am seeing a designer asserting a voice about nation and place and culture through the design and imagery. How are you balancing and approaching the two differently?

It is important to separate my commercially designed work from what I call my Activist/Awareness designs. On one side of the scale the commercial design process is born out of some kind of consensus; the clients input and direction coupled with my creative conceptual ideas. This struggle can often become an hinderance to creativity depending on the kind of relationship and freedom I have with the client. It is always a struggle to break through the corporate briefs and restraints. On the other side of the scale my Activist/Awareness designs are expressed through "freeform creativity" layered on a forward thinking design platform. They are not restrained by any briefs or directions to corrupt the creative process. This is my voice and conceptual ideas expressed undiluted. It is my passion and conviction all wrapped up around an array of issues, ideas and causes. What you see in these designs are a commitment to freedom in the creative process. I try to separate and balance the two by approaching the creative processes differently. The Activist/Awareness designs are my personal work which is very important to me as a means to explore new techniques and ideas in a freestyle way.

What visions do you have for the role of your more activist work and how has it being delivered to its audience and used by them?

The delivery formula for my Activist Art Project can be summed up in five words “communication by any means necessary.” FLICKR plays a big role in introducing my poster art to a broad international audience. It is where this present episode of my activism started and already my work has attracted thousands of viewers since I started posting my art on FLICKR a year and half ago. The web has been a wonderful way to achieve exposure and to get my message out. However, it is not the only way my work is delivered. I make digital 18”x24” poster prints and have shown locally in traditional gallery settings. For example , I exhibited at a gallery in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania with a group of underground Zine publishers. This was a new type of audience of young rebel writers and graffiti enthusiasts. I am also working on other collaborations with publications and archives like the Palestinian Poster Project and the Canter for the Study of Political Graphics in an efforts to expand the audience. I am also planning a collaboration with a local skateboard company to do a show in their retail outlet later this year. I hope to do more of this type of delivery.

I do get many request for the use of my work as fundraising or promotional material to support a variety of causes that are represented by the designs. One of which is the design in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza strip. The image of the “Gaza Child” has gotten the biggest request and admiration to date. Posters and T-shirts were made by The Gaza Freedom March organizers and distributed at the march in Egypt and other cities around the world during the International solidarity march in January, 2010. International requests for the “Gaza Child” design are still coming in from as far away as South Africa and Australia. The Gaza Freedom March and The Haiti Poster Project are two campaigns that have helped publicized my designs and messages on an impressive scale and have also raised money for two very important causes.

I am working on more collaborations and hope to create a dedicated website featuring only my activist works in the near future. My Haiti poster designs will be featured on TV Cultura on a program called Almanaque. TV Cultura is a public television channel in Brazil. The program will use my Haiti designs as an example on how others especially the youths can use the internet to help Haiti. I have to thank many of my FLICKR friends and other supporters who have helped to spread the messages and my work to new audiences via blogs, online galleries and Facebook postings.

Do you think art can change the world?

Yes, to a point. Art can play an important and supportive role in changing the world. Art by itself cannot change the world. However, it can communicate ideas and messages in a powerful and effective way; elevating awareness in people that might not o

therwise turn to action. It can provide a powerful visual queue for those in the struggle to help motivate others to participate in the process of change. All branches of the arts can play a relevant role effectively. As artists we can ask questions about the many problems around us and present them in creative ways to foster dialogue and discussion. Activism is still the best way to achieve change, people have to stand up and go out there to "make a difference." I think more artists need to point to the problems and find the best solutions to stimulate activism. I would like to see more art in workshop settings, where people are no longer passively sitting and consuming the art. Instead, they are creating together, feeling empowered and focusing on solutions, community and communication. I am upbeat that this activism among young artist world-wide have begun to find roots. I admire artists like Shep

ard Fairey of OBEY, Dignidad Rebelde and Taller Tupac Amaru Collective who are doing amazing works in highlighting a number of political and social issues. I would love to see more visual artist in Jamaica standing up and speaking out through their art on issues of injustice, human rights and environmental concerns affecting Jamaica and the wider world. We can find examples of Jamaican musicians who have successfully used beautiful music to raise consciousness and to fight injustice; Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Burning Spear, Michael Smith to name a few. I think the Jamaican visual artists can find inspiration from the history of activism in our music.

It is clear that beauty is important and iconic imagery is the support for your strong ideas. Can you explain the process of how you locate an issue for use and then create an appealing image.

You do not have to look very far to find issues to support. It can be local or international, the media and the web are filled with stories of war, injustice, brutality, environmental concerns and exploitation, you name it is there. Lets look closer to home, the violence that occurred in Tivoli Gardens Jamaica on Labour day (May 24, 2010) and its aftermath was terrible. It was not hard to see that the stories that were presented by some local and international media had ignored the physical and emotional trauma that the majority of citizens were facing in that community. Hundreds of police and military personnel attacked a community inhabited by innocent women, children, and men, killing over 70 in the process. An unnecessary war unleashed on a civilian population. The stories that were coming from the residents totally contradicted the official reports. The residents spoke of summary executions and brutality by the security forces.

One of the poster design that I created in solidarity with the residents of Tivoli Gardens and Denham Town depicted the iconic face of a crying woman. I started out with the illustration because I wanted it to set the tone of the design. I am pretty much entirely Adobe illustrator-based as far as software is concerned. The entire design and illustration is created from start to finish in Adobe Illustrator; no sketches or scans. I usually prefer to work this way. The expression on her face captured the frightful experience they had endured. I read some of the statements given by members of the community and have seen the images and videos of the women weeping for their loved ones that were either killed or missing. It was clear to me that a very large number of the people living in Tivoli Gardens were woman and children. The face on the poster represents the weeping mothers of Tivoli Gardens. Everyone with a heart can relate to the humanity in the narrative. I then added a bold and powerful statement that reminded the government and other Jamaicans that the residents of Tivoli are citizens of Jamaica not enemies and they deserve justice. I wanted a beautifully designed image, colorful, and strong enough to grab the attention the first time someone looked at it.

What do you think about Michael's work and what he is doing as a designer of political imagery?

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The Fashion Industry – Ambassadors of the Jamaica Brand?

Recently, I came across a series of fascinating articles on the Australian Fashion industry and how it was being positioned to service the Australia brand internationally. Indeed Austrade’s (Australian Trade Commission) National Manager, Rob Sutton commented that:

‘The Australian Fashion industry isn’t just about fabrics, frocks and fanfare, but one of the key cultural ambassador industries. Fashion is one of Australia’s key creative and design industries and we know that there are over 2000 active fashion exporters delivering their products and services in overseas markets”.

It occurred to me that Jamaica might not be fully exploiting its own successes in the fashion industry to market Jamaica. When I say successes I mean the country’s international reputation for producing international top models whom have graced the cover of top fashion magazines (Vogue, Essence etc).

Jamaica – A Place for Fashion? Lessons from Australia
Jamaica has also had enormous success premised on its past victories at international fashion industry competitions such as Miss World and Miss Universe pageants. These arenas have not only exhibited the beauty of our women, but displayed Jamaica’s top class designers and the quality of their productions.

Australia has no doubt recognised that it has an international reputation for producing some of the emerging stars in the fashion world. The country is therefore committed, Sutton says, to exporting this vision with the goal of reflecting their creative environment; modern fresh ideas and quality products.

As part of Brand Australia, Sutton says, they look at promoting the image of the nation through varying strategies, with fashion being an attractive component of that vision. For them, it holds key international mainstream media impacts, artistic component and celebrity story reach.

This is undoubtedly true as I notice that top celebrities such as Eva Mendez, among others, have been flying into Australia to sample the design collections of many Australian designs – from the mundane items such as bracelets and bangles to top market pieces such as clothes, bags and shoes! Obviously, Australian celebrities such as pop singer, Kylie Minogue and actress Nicole kidman would have helped to establish the Australian brand by buying and wearing Australian desisgners.
Sutton argues that:
“It really helps to further Australia’s message through the creative industry. We are able to project diversity from pour relaxed beach culture – with our leading surf wear/swimwear brands to our vibrant cosmopolitan city lifestyles – with our urban street wear companies and cutting edge high fashion designers”.

Reggae Fashion
No doubt, the Bob Marley clan have cornered a part of the reggae wear market and have had celebs such as Gwen Stefani sporting the signature reggae colours. Other artistes such as Sean Paul, Sean Kingston and Shaggy have been instrumental in enabling the Jamaica design brand overseas. Cooyah designs and others have emerged as niche marketers of a line of Jamaica clothing. It would have been nice to see them in Berlin expanding the reach of Jamaica and Jamaican designs on the world stage.


Jamaican Street Wear – Untapped Potential
I give credit to the emergence of a wide variety of Jamaican urban ‘street clothing’ by creative young designers. The ‘Portmore Collection’ and the Kingston Collection have the potential to take off. Some entertainers such as General Degree have been attempting to tap into the T-shirt market. This is also a good thing as the worldwide obsession with reggae and Jamaica and things Jamaican mean that the space is wide open for further in roads to be made in this arena.

Australia’s creative industry particularly in fashion was showcased at the Rosemount fashion week in 2008. It featured Australian brands such as Jayson Brunsdon, High Tea, Mrs Woo, Madame Marie Rachel Bending which captured international buyer interest from countries as diverse as the USA, Canada, Italy, Spain, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, China and New Zealand.

Government Support
Like other cultural industries, the fashion industry may require government support. Sutton chalks up Australia’s success to the “result of the ongoing work that Austrade does in-market throughout the year to raise the profile and image of Australian brands. Actively supporting Australian brands and helping Australian exporters overseas. We work closely with retail buyers and agents to highlight the unique style of the Australian fashion industry.
Sutton considers as successes Austyle London and Dubai, Thailand’s Fashionably Australia and the 200 Ford Supermodel of the World event, which featured some of Australia’s top designers to more than 1000 of the worlds influential fashion leaders and international media.


It certainly would be interesting to the Caribbean Fashion Week – which I have enjoyed immensely every time it’s on – receive the kinds of international exposure and traction apparent in Australia. And Jamaican/Caribbean designers tap into the international circuit.

The success of the Australian business model is apparent – strategic thinking and positioning. In short, it’s no accident or chance encounter but deliberately planned and executed.

Educating And Training in Fashion
Sutton’s commentary is telling here: “We (Australia) have also worked hard to host pre-fashion week seminars with over 100 participants to bring interested new fashion exporters up to speed on managing international sales growth and the expectations of our international guests”.

Education and training – what would we do without it. It would appear that Jamaica has left fashion to the ‘unskilled’- those who can’t find a job and therefore should get [‘sewing’] skills. The perception of the industry must change and fashion seen as not just a alternative vocation for less formally educated but a real industry that can produce stars of design – clothes, shoes, bags etc.

The fact that Australia created their own ‘Project Runway Australia” reality show to much popularity, and established popular design schools for those wanting a career in the field - only serves to crank up interest in the fashion and design industry and ensure its endurance.

Jamaica is well-positioned to tap into the fashion market. We just need to seize the opportunity.

For more information on Australia’s creative industries, see www.austrade.gov.au

Contributed by Dr. Hume Johnson
Dr. Hume Johnson is a communications consultant, co-founder of The Communication Workshop; http://thecommunicationexperts.blogspot.com
Also see, Talking Politics at http://humejohnson.wordpress.com
Images sourced online from Caribbean Beat blog, fashionoverstyle_photos on photobucket.com, dryhyphenplympics.blospot.com

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Time-based Media?

What is Time-based Media? Why is 'time' an issue of importance in digital media and the contemporary artist? Why is it relevant to the arts and artists in Jamaica? What qualifies a medium to be placed in this category and is it specific to medium or is it more of an approach or aesthetic? How does it function in the fine arts as opposed to the commercial industry?What applications has it been previously used for and what potential does it have for our cultural industry? What about the creative process differs from using non-time-based media and does it allow for intuition and inventiveness? Should its value as a product be different from that of other media?

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WE ARE ABOUT FILM

A week or so ago, I was in attendance at the CPTC free Film Festival to see ‘The Future of Food’. The documentary was in keeping with the activist sentiment of many of the other films. It could be gathered that the audience was deeply affected by the intermittent muffled cries of surprise and shock at the thought of food being used as a political tool in America’s pursuit for world dominance. Conspiracy theories abound and left many of us vowing never to eat any food derived from U.S. corn produce (www.thefutureoffood.com). David Rubinson, the passionate festival organiser and CPTC for doing anything for free in our currently entrepreneur-driven Kingston and especially as it is something to benefit public awareness. Nevertheless what struck me about the festival was a statement made by Angela Patterson, CPTC’s CEO, before the screening: ‘We are about film’

CPTC is apparently seeking to secure its place in our still relatively untouched film industry. There is a lot of talk about film and Jamaica now particulary with the Brand Jamaica campaign which is active now. The idea of ‘Film’ and its related industry is cool, hip, seductive and perhaps for this reason connects with the image Jamaica presents to the world. What does it really mean to say we have a film industry? Which model will be employed in Jamaica: the Hollywood, Bollywood, Nollywood, European Avant-garde approach. Maybe it will be a new aesthetic related particularly to our culture. Will it have any bearing on artistic pursuit, fuelled and funded by political and state interests, or will it be replicas of imported genres? I suppose the point I am getting at is, what does it really mean to say in Jamaica that ‘We are about film’?

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The legacy of tourism:

The 'Dangerously Close to Tourist Art' Lecture given on the 2nd of this month touched on a few points that have been up for discussion for quite a while now. What kind of art can bear the 'intuitive' label? What separates the gallery intuitive from the craft market intuitive? What role does the tourism industry play in the formation of the arts in Jamaica? Another issue raised was that of how much do we have to give in order to gain from tourism?
This is the moment to ask these questions about the relationship between tourism and art as with the restructuring of government art & culture now fall under the Tourism ministry. This strikes me as an odd placement as tourism sells a product. It is interested in Jamaica as a commodity. This may ultimately influence the development of the arts in Jamaica either through new cultural policies, 'Brand Jamaica' strategies or other product-oriented ideas. What are your views?

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